Proteins and Insomnia

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Proteins and Insomnia

by pareekbharat86 » Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:13 pm
According to recent studies, people whose diet is unusually high in protein are more likely to suffer from insomnia than people whose diet contains moderate amounts of protein. It is therefore likely that a diet high in protein is a cause, though perhaps not the only cause, of insomnia.

Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

a. Diets that are high in protein are often low in foods that help keep the immune system working effectively.
b. People whose diet is unusually high in protein often have other characteristics in common, some of which are likely to cause insomnia.
c. Reducing the amount of protein in one's diet can be harmful.
d. People whose diets are unusually low in protein often experience insomnia.
e. Insomniacs who switched from high-protein diets to more moderate levels of protein intake have reported that the change was so unpleasant that it worsened their insomnia.

OA is B

Source- Kaplan Quizzes
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by [email protected] » Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:06 pm
Hi pareekbharat86,

This CR prompt is based on "causality", the idea that one thing causes another. It's common enough of a CR concept that you should expect to see it on Test Day.

Here, the causality is that eating lots of protein leads to insomnia. To cast DOUBT on this logic, we need to weaken it.

There are 3 obvious ways to weaken a causality argument:

1) Say that something else causes the effect (e.g. something else causes the insomnia)
2) Say that the causality is reversed (e.g.. insomnia leads to eating lots of protein)
3) Say that it's a co-incidence (e.g. Insomnia and eating protein are not related at all, they just both happen at the same time).

The correct answer states that there's a different cause for the insomnia.
Final Answer: B

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by kutlee » Fri May 22, 2015 4:20 am
b. People whose diet is unusually high in protein often have other characteristics in common, some of which are likely to cause insomnia.

The argument already states that there can be other causes in addition to high protein diet. So may be these other characteristics are in addition to high protein.

What about D and E?

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by Abhishek009 » Sat May 23, 2015 10:17 am
Diet [Unusually high in protein]=======>Likely to suffer from insomnia

Causes of insomnia -

1. Diet high in protein
2. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
3. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
4. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Our target is to bring out Diet high in protein from the list of Causes of Insomania.

a. Diets that are high in protein are often low in foods that help keep the immune system working effectively.

Out of scope.

b. People whose diet is unusually high in protein often have other characteristics in common, some of which are likely to cause insomnia.

Unusually High Protien --- > XXXXX <--------- Cause of Insomania.

So we can figurre out that High level of Pritien Diet is a common Characteristic of Insomania


c. Reducing the amount of protein in one's diet can be harmful.

Out of scope - Not of our concern.

d. People whose diets are unusually low in protein often experience insomnia.

This means we are including one more casue in our list -

1. Diet high in protein { However we could not take out this one from the list }
2. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
3. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
4. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. Diet low in protein

e. Insomniacs who switched from high-protein diets to more moderate levels of protein intake have reported that the change was so unpleasant that it worsened their insomnia.

Out of scope - We are not talking/dealing with change...


Hence IMO (B)
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by Eli@Prep4GMAT » Wed May 27, 2015 12:25 pm
kutlee wrote:b. People whose diet is unusually high in protein often have other characteristics in common, some of which are likely to cause insomnia.

The argument already states that there can be other causes in addition to high protein diet. So may be these other characteristics are in addition to high protein.

What about D and E?
Hi Kutlee,

Choice (D) is essentially restating the correlation in the premise of this argument, so it doesn't really help the causal conclusion. Choice (E) involves sudden changes of diet, and involves *lower* protein leading to more insomnia, so it's way out of scope.

I hope this helps!

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by kutlee » Thu May 28, 2015 1:50 am
Thanks Eli,
D is not a restatement i guess. Statement is only about high protein. D is about low protein.
Again, B is not clear.
agrument - likely that a diet high in protein is a cause, though perhaps not the only cause, of insomnia.
B - Other characteristics in common, some of which are likely to cause insomnia.
Isn't that already covered?. This is why i elminated B.