PrepTest 122, Section 4, Question 20
Magazine article: Sugar consumption may exacerbate attention deficit(52 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(12 more words not shown)
- AThe adrenaline level(14 more words not shown)
- BOverproduction of adrenaline(4 more words not shown)
- CThe most effective(13 more words not shown)
- DIncreased adrenaline production(7 more words not shown)
- ESugar consumed with(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
More adrenaline doesn't automatically mean worse ADD. What's the connection?
The article's conclusion says sugar may exacerbate ADD in children—make it worse. Its evidence says children produce large amounts of adrenaline after consuming large amounts of sugar. Even if we accept that finding, we still need to know what the adrenaline does to ADD.
The detail about candy stays on the adrenaline side of the argument. We're told other foodstuffs can reduce the sugar's effects, making the increase especially noticeable with candy. That might explain differences in the adrenaline response, but it doesn't supply the missing connection to the disorder.
What we’re looking for
For the necessary assumption, I'd expect that increased adrenaline can worsen ADD. If adrenaline couldn't worsen the disorder, the study wouldn't give us the support the author wants from it. That is the link our answer needs to supply.
Working the answers
- A
The conclusion concerns worsening ADD. Children without ADD could also have an adrenaline increase after eating sugar without affecting the argument about children who have the disorder. The author doesn't need the sugar response to be exclusive to the children discussed in the conclusion.
- B
Causing a disorder and making an existing disorder worse are different claims. Adrenaline could worsen symptoms in children who already have ADD without ever causing a child to develop it. B also calls the production excessive, but the main problem is that its causal claim goes beyond the connection this argument needs.
- C
The article doesn't compare treatments or identify the most effective one. Even if sugar can worsen ADD, it wouldn't follow that restricting sugar is the best way to treat it. Other treatments could matter more, and the author needn't settle that to make this argument.
- DCorrect
Increased adrenaline must be capable of making ADD more severe for the adrenaline finding to support the proposed worsening of ADD. If that increase could never worsen the disorder, the study would give us no reason for this conclusion. D supplies the missing connection while preserving the article's cautious claim that worsening is possible.
- E
A smaller increase could still be substantial. The article says the adrenaline increase is especially noticeable with candy; it doesn't require sugar consumed with other foods to have no substantial effect. More importantly, adjusting the size of that response doesn't connect adrenaline with ADD. The argument depends on that latter connection, which D provides.
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