PrepTest 111, Section 4, Question 12
Most doctors recommend that pregnant women eat a(34 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(13 more words not shown)
- AWomen who regularly(14 more words not shown)
- BMost of the(20 more words not shown)
- CBabies of women(22 more words not shown)
- DMedical problems that(19 more words not shown)
- EMany of the(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Helping a baby stay healthier doesn't have to mean preventing every medical problem.
Suppose one group of babies had one medical problem each and another had fifty. Those are made-up numbers, but they show the distinction: both groups could have problems, while one group was doing much better. Finding at least one problem doesn't establish that the recommended diet failed to help.
The missing comparison is with babies whose mothers did not eat nutritious diets during pregnancy. Do those babies have more problems? If so, the recommendation could make sense even though many babies in the nutritious-diet group still become ill.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to resolve the apparent discrepancy. I'd look for evidence that the diet is associated with fewer problems rather than no problems. We can keep both statements: the diet promotes health, and it doesn't make the first year entirely free of medical issues.
Working the answers
- A
Continuing the same eating pattern while breast-feeding doesn't tell us how the babies' health compares with that of other babies. It describes the mothers' later behavior without explaining how the original recommendation can be beneficial despite the first-year problems.
- B
The timing is wrong for the comparison we need. This concerns serious problems later in childhood, while the puzzle concerns any medical problem in the first year. A child could have several early problems and no serious later ones. B doesn't show whether the recommended pregnancy diet helps during the period described.
- CCorrect
Babies whose mothers did not eat nutritious diets tend to have more first-year problems. That gives us the comparison we wanted. The babies in the nutritious-diet group can still have medical problems while having fewer than the others.
So the recommendation doesn't need to promise perfection. It can promote health by reducing problems, just as reducing fifty problems to one would be a substantial improvement without eliminating the final problem. The actual numbers aren't supplied; the useful point is the relative difference C establishes.
- D
The seriousness of first-year problems doesn't tell us whether the diet reduces them. The problems could be serious in both groups while occurring more often in one. We need to compare the diets' associated outcomes, not compare early problems with later ones.
- E
Reaffirming the recommendation tells us the physicians still endorse it. It doesn't give their reason or tell us how the babies fare compared with other babies. Repeating an endorsement leaves the apparent discrepancy unexplained.
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