PrepTest 130, Section 1, Question 9
People who need to reduce their intake of(68 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(17 more words not shown)
- Amany foods cannot(4 more words not shown)
- BN5 has mild(4 more words not shown)
- Cnot everyone who(10 more words not shown)
- Dpeople who know(22 more words not shown)
- Ethe total fat(19 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A fat substitute sounds useful if you're trying to cut down on fat and calories. You might replace ordinary butter or cheese with a version made using a substitute such as N5.
But the study gives us a problem: people who ate N5 foods felt hungrier and then ate enough extra food to replace the calories they had saved. I can see why that challenges the appeal of a zero-calorie substitute. If the calories come back later, the initial calorie saving hasn't lasted.
What we’re looking for
Does it establish that N5 is of no use to these people? That's the conclusion we need to examine. We could wonder whether the study used comparable groups, but we have no reported defect to point to. I don't yet have a precise explanation of what went wrong. For the flaw question, I'll look for a possibility showing that N5 could still have value despite the study's result.
Working the answers
- A
Being unsuitable for many foods doesn't identify a remaining benefit of N5. It could still be used in the foods discussed in the study. This limitation gives us no reason to doubt the argument's negative conclusion about usefulness.
- B
Unpleasant side effects would be another disadvantage. They don't explain how N5 could still help the people discussed, so they don't expose the missing benefit we're looking for.
- C
This initially sounds like a possible defense: perhaps some people use N5 for taste rather than calorie control. But the conclusion concerns people who need to reduce fat and calories, not every person who might enjoy an N5 product. Merely saying that not everyone pays attention to calories doesn't show how N5 helps those people meet their needs.
- D
This describes a difference in how much N5 food people eat depending on what they know about it. It doesn't identify a useful effect that the argument overlooks. In particular, it doesn't challenge the study's finding that people eventually replace the calories initially saved.
- ECorrect
Here is a benefit the calorie evidence leaves open: lower fat intake. We started with two needs, reducing fat and reducing calories. Someone could eat enough additional calories to undo the calorie saving while still consuming less fat overall. That would make N5 useful in one respect even if it failed in the other. The conclusion that it is of no use overlooks that possibility.
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