PrepTest 139, Section 4, Question 5
Physiologist: The likelihood of developing osteoporosis is greatly(61 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(14 more words not shown)
- AA healthy human(10 more words not shown)
- BMany people who(11 more words not shown)
- CThere are more(13 more words not shown)
- DPeople who have(11 more words not shown)
- EThe fats in(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How much of that calcium can the body actually use?
Milk could contain plenty of calcium without delivering all of it to the body. Maybe something makes the calcium harder to absorb. That's one possibility to keep in mind before treating more calcium per serving as automatically better.
The comparison initially seems backward. A lack of calcium increases the risk of osteoporosis, and dairy usually contains more calcium per serving. Yet the countries relying mainly on fruits and vegetables have less osteoporosis. We need a fact that makes that lower rate understandable.
What we’re looking for
Absorption might matter. So might other differences: perhaps people in those countries have healthier diets overall or exercise more. Those are possible explanations to investigate, not facts we're given. For this task, look for a reason the apparent advantage of dairy might not translate into a lower rate of osteoporosis.
Working the answers
- A
Losing excess calcium could explain why consuming more and more calcium stops providing an extra benefit. But the puzzle isn't just that the dairy countries fail to do better. They have more osteoporosis. A limit on the benefit of extra calcium doesn't, by itself, explain why the fruit-and-vegetable countries do better.
- B
Some people consume both kinds of food. That doesn't identify a difference between the two groups of countries that explains their different osteoporosis rates. We already know dairy is rare, rather than completely absent, in one group. Overlapping diets don't resolve the comparison.
- C
Calcium deficiency increases the risk of osteoporosis; it doesn't guarantee that everyone with a deficiency develops it. So these numbers aren't surprising. More importantly, they tell us nothing about why the rate is lower in countries getting most of their calcium from fruits and vegetables.
- D
Other mineral deficiencies could matter if we knew how they affected osteoporosis and how they differed between the countries. This answer gives us neither connection. It merely associates one deficiency with others, leaving the comparison we're trying to explain untouched.
- ECorrect
This fits the absorption possibility. Dairy contains more calcium per serving, but its fats interfere with the body's ability to absorb that calcium. The amount in the food therefore may overstate its advantage as a usable calcium source.
That helps explain why people relying on fruits and vegetables could have less osteoporosis despite consuming a source with less calcium per serving. We don't have to claim that no dairy calcium is absorbed. Reduced absorption is enough to challenge the expectation that dairy's higher calcium content should produce the better result.
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