Critical Reasoning

I believer that option A is also weakining the argument......Am I right?.....

Please explain this one


Statistics show that although consumption of
low-calorie, alternative sweeteners has gone up
in each of the past five years, so has the
percentage of the population that is obese.
According to sugar manufacturers, this shows
that the low-calorie, alternative sweeteners are
not effective weight loss aids.
Which of the following assertions, if true, would
most weaken the sugar manufacturers'
conclusion?

(A) Many people who use low-calorie,
alternative sweeteners eat some foods
that are not low-calorie.
(B) Some low-calorie, alternative sweeteners
can increase the appetite, making a
person eat more than he or she normally
would.
(C) Many people use low-calorie, alternative
sweeteners to accompany a wellbalanced,
low-calorie diet.
(D) Obesity has declined among people who
have consistently used low-calorie,
alternative sweeteners.
(E) The rise in the consumption of low-calorie,
alternative sweeteners is primarily due to
an increase in the number of users rather
than an increase in the amount each user
consume

Hi,

The stimulus says that consumption of low cal sweetners has gone up and at the same time the % of of the population that is obese has also gone up. But the stimulus does not say anything about the results amongst those who actually took the sweetner. So there is a missing premise. In other words, the incresase in the % of obese people could be from that set of the population which did not use the sweetner.

Hence, its option D because it directly links the consumption of low cal sweetners to the results. "Obesity has declined among people who
have consistently used low-calorie,
alternative sweeteners".

What's the OA?

T

A isn't a strong weakener because of the words "many" and "some," both of which are too vague to have any significant impact on the argument. How many is "many"? Five? Five hundred? Five million? Without knowing, it doesn't do us much good. And "some" can mean anything from one to all... that's even less helpful to us than "many." And finally, it seems safe to say that pretty much everyone eats some foods that are not low-calorie; whether or not that's true, though, it's not relevant to whether or not the sweeteners themselves are good weight-loss aids.

I believe that the answer here is D, because if obesity has declined among the low-calorie sweetener users, then those sweeteners probably ARE good weight-loss aids, and the increase in obesity in the population as a whole must come from other people.

OA is D....

Thanks Andrea...I got this one....

Cheers!

argument does not says that the percentage of obesity is increased among the consumer of alternative sweeteners.
argument does not show direct relation between alternative sweeteners and obese population increase i.e if the options can show that obese population has other reason to increase or alternative sweeteners has any effect on obesity the conclution will be weakened.Only option D does that.

IMO ans should be D
can you please confirm or explain if it is not.

liferocks wrote:argument does not says that the percentage of obesity is increased among the consumer of alternative sweeteners.
argument does not show direct relation between alternative sweeteners and obese population increase i.e if the options can show that obese population has other reason to increase or alternative sweeteners has any effect on obesity the conclution will be weakened.Only option D does that.

IMO ans should be D
can you please confirm or explain if it is not.

sorry didn't see the other posts before posting.got the ans.