PrepTest 112, Section 1, Question 2
Nutritionist: Recently a craze has developed for home(89 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(9 more words not shown)
- AMost people find(26 more words not shown)
- BDrinking juice from(30 more words not shown)
- CTo most people(16 more words not shown)
- DThe nutritionist was(13 more words not shown)
- EVitamin pills that(31 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Maybe someone will drink the carrot juice but won't eat the carrots.
At first, the nutritionist's objection sounds like a challenge to the advertised health benefits. But the evidence makes a narrower point: separating the juice doesn't give it properties it lacked inside the fruit or vegetable. The nutritionist hasn't established that every advertised benefit is false. The claim is that buying the machine doesn't offer an advantage over eating the produce.
That is where I have a question. Even if the nutrients are available either way, people might find one way easier or more appealing. A person who starts consuming produce because of the juicer could gain something from the purchase, even though the machine hasn't created a new nutritional property. Having an alternative available isn't the same as actually using it.
What we’re looking for
To weaken the argument, I'd look for that practical benefit. We don't need to defend every claim about cancer, complexion or weight loss. We need a reason the advice to skip the machine and simply eat the carrot overlooks something valuable.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The liquid form makes the same quantity of nutrients easier for most people to consume. That supplies a benefit the nutritionist's comparison misses. Someone could find a glass of juice manageable while finding the corresponding solid food difficult to eat.
The machine doesn't need to change the nutrients for the difference to matter. Making it easier to consume them can itself give the juicer value. A doesn't prove everybody should spend $300, but it weakens the argument that access to the same nutrients in whole produce settles the decision.
- B
This supports choosing the whole fruit or vegetable by identifying something lost when only the juice is consumed: fiber. It adds a reason in favor of the nutritionist's recommendation. We want a reason to question that recommendation, so B moves in the wrong direction.
- C
A minor expense could still buy something with no benefit. C makes the price sound less burdensome for likely buyers, but it doesn't challenge the nutritionist's reason for regarding the purchase as unnecessary. A supplies the more direct response by showing an advantage to the machine. Cost can matter to a purchase without answering the particular comparison made here.
- D
Serving on an evaluation panel doesn't tell us what the nutritionist learned or expose a problem with the argument. We aren't given a panel finding that contradicts the recommendation. The person's experience alone supplies no reason to think the advice overlooks a benefit.
- E
This compares vitamin pills with compounds in fruits and vegetables. Our comparison is between juicing produce and eating it whole. Even if pills are harder to metabolize, that doesn't tell us which of those two ways of consuming the produce is preferable.
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