PrepTest 130, Section 4, Question 10
Nutritionists believe that a person's daily requirement for(30 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AEven five servings(20 more words not shown)
- BCertain commonly available(9 more words not shown)
- CNutritionists sometimes disagree(12 more words not shown)
- DMany commonly consumed(19 more words not shown)
- EFruits and vegetables(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Five servings may be one way to get enough vitamins. Does eating less establish that someone needs pills?
There are several questions worth keeping apart. The mix of produce could matter: five servings of apples are not the same menu as apples, spinach, carrots, bananas, and watermelon. We might also wonder whether five servings are necessary. If fewer could suffice, some people eating less than five might already get enough.
And even if a person's produce intake leaves a shortfall, are pills the only way to fill it? Other foods might supply the missing vitamins. Meat, fish, or nuts could be worth considering.
What we’re looking for
For the weaken question, one possible route would show that people need fewer servings than the author assumes. Another would show that people can obtain the vitamins through a source other than produce or pills. Either concern challenges the jump from eating little produce to needing supplements.
Working the answers
- A
This makes meeting the requirement through produce more demanding. Even five servings might not suffice without variety. That does not show that people eating much less are adequately supplied with vitamins; if anything, it adds to the concern about inadequate intake. It therefore does not undermine the conclusion in the needed direction.
- B
Some produce containing more nutrients than other produce does not tell us whether most people's actual diets meet their vitamin needs. We would need information about what they eat and how much it supplies. Nutritional variation alone does not establish that pills are unnecessary.
- C
Disagreement about serving size does not tell us that people receive enough vitamins. It could affect how intake is counted, but C never establishes that correcting the count would eliminate the alleged shortfall. The disagreement by itself does not answer the argument.
- DCorrect
This supplies the alternative-food route. Many commonly eaten foods outside the fruit-and-vegetable category have the same vitamins added to them. People could therefore obtain those vitamins through foods they already consume, even while eating relatively little produce.
Imagine a snack fortified with the vitamins someone was otherwise missing. Fortified foods are another source the argument overlooks. D does not prove that nobody needs pills, but it weakens the inference that most people do simply because they eat too little produce.
- E
Fiber is a different nutritional consideration. Fruits and vegetables may provide fiber that pills lack, but the conclusion concerns the need for vitamins. E gives a reason to value produce without showing whether people need vitamin pills.
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