Official CR: Columnist:People should avoid using a certain

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Columnist: People should avoid using a certain artificial fat that has been touted as a resource for those whose medical advisers have advised them to reduce their fat intake. Although the artificial fat, which can be used in place of fat in food preparation, has none of the negative health effects of fat, it does have a serious drawback: it absorbs certain essential vitamins, thereby preventing them from being used by the body.

In evaluating the columnist's position, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?


(A) Whether increasing one's intake of the vitamins can compensate for the effects of the artificial fat

(B) Whether the vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat

(C) Whether having an extremely low fat intake for an extended period can endanger the health

(D) Whether there are any foods that cannot be prepared using the artificial fat as a substitute for other fats

(E) Whether people are generally able to detect differences in taste between foods prepared using the artificial fat and foods that are similar except for the use of other fats

Premise: The artificial fat absorbs certain essential vitamins, thereby preventing them from being used by the body.
Conclusion: People who have been advised to reduce their fat intake should avoid using the artificial fat.

Rephrases the answer choices as statements.
The correct rephrase rephrase will either strengthen or weaken the conclusion.

A, rephrased:
Increasing one's intake of the vitamins can compensate for the effects of the artificial fat.
Here, it is possible to compensate for the fat's absorption of essential vitamins, WEAKENING the conclusion that people should avoid using the artificial fat.

The correct answer is A.

B, rephrased:
The vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat.
It is stated as a PREMISE that the vitamins are ESSENTIAL and that the artificial fat absorbs the vitamins.
Whether the vitamins are contained in foods with the fat or in foods without the fat, the conclusion is unaffected:
People should avoid the fat.
Since B has no effect on the conclusion, eliminate B.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Columnist: People should avoid using a certain artificial fat that has been touted as a resource for those whose medical advisers have advised them to reduce their fat intake. Although the artificial fat, which can be used in place of fat in food preparation, has none of the negative health effects of fat, it does have a serious drawback: it absorbs certain essential vitamins, thereby preventing them from being used by the body.

In evaluating the columnist's position, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?


(A) Whether increasing one's intake of the vitamins can compensate for the effects of the artificial fat

(B) Whether the vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat

(C) Whether having an extremely low fat intake for an extended period can endanger the health

(D) Whether there are any foods that cannot be prepared using the artificial fat as a substitute for other fats

(E) Whether people are generally able to detect differences in taste between foods prepared using the artificial fat and foods that are similar except for the use of other fats

B, rephrased:
The vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat.
It is stated as a PREMISE that the vitamins are ESSENTIAL and that the artificial fat absorbs the vitamins.
Whether the vitamins are contained in foods with the fat or in foods without the fat, the conclusion is unaffected:
People should avoid the fat.
Since B has no effect on the conclusion, eliminate B.

Got you Mitch. However,would like to clarify whether my following understanding is correct -

B, rephrased as a POSITIVE STATEMENT:
The vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat.
It seems to imply that even if vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat (re fatty foods) , it doesn't mean that fatty foods should be taken because our intention is NO FAT foods + overcome the drawback of artificial fat and we're NOT able to overcome the drawback of artificial fat.

So, B doesn't help.

B, rephrased as a NEGATIVE STATEMENT:
The vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are NOT present in foods that contain the fat.
It appears that this rephrase implies: the foods that contain the fat should be avoided (because they contain FAT which is not good to take and also don't contain the vitamins, therefore they're not good for health) and this piece of information is already mentioned in the ARGUMENT as a PREMISE - so, no NEW information given. Thus, it becomes nonsensical to even consider Option B.

So, here also we can see that B doesn't help. Are the above TWO understandings correct ?

Hi Mitch,
Any thoughts on my above analysis ?

Curious to hear your feedback. Much thanks in advance!

RBBmba@2014 wrote:However,would like to clarify whether my following understanding is correct -

B, rephrased as a POSITIVE STATEMENT:
The vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat.
It seems to imply that even if vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat (re fatty foods) , it doesn't mean that fatty foods should be taken because our intention is NO FAT foods + overcome the drawback of artificial fat and we're NOT able to overcome the drawback of artificial fat.

So, B doesn't help.

It is unclear what you mean by fatty foods.
Premise:
The artificial fat has none of the negative health effects of fat.
Since foods prepared with the artificial fat contain no actual fat, they are not fatty.
But the artificial fat has a serious drawback: it prevents the absorption of certain essential vitamins.
Since the positive statement above does not affect whether this drawback can be avoided, eliminate B.

B, rephrased as a NEGATIVE STATEMENT:
The vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are NOT present in foods that contain the fat.
It appears that this rephrase implies: the foods that contain the fat should be avoided (because they contain FAT which is not good to take and also don't contain the vitamins, therefore they're not good for health) and this piece of information is already mentioned in the ARGUMENT as a PREMISE - so, no NEW information given. Thus, it becomes nonsensical to even consider Option B.

So, here also we can see that B doesn't help. Are the above TWO understandings correct ?

The reasoning behind the portion in red is unclear.
Since the artificial fat has none of the negative health effects of fat, foods prepared with the artificial fat are -- in most respects -- GOOD.
But the artificial fat has a serious drawback: it prevents the absorption of certain essential vitamins.
Since the negative statement above does not affect whether this drawback can be avoided, eliminate B.

Hi Mitch,
Let me clarify what I intended to mean by fatty foods : Foods that contain the ACTUAL fat. "foods that contain the fat" -- doesn't this phrase in Option B imply fatty foods ?

My whole interpretation https://www.beatthegmat.com/official-cr- ... tml#792326 is based on this understanding. How is this wrong ?

Curious to know your thoughts!

P.S: Btw, are you interpreting "the fat" in Option B as "the artificial fat" ? Why so ?

P.S: Btw, are you interpreting "the fat" in Option B as "the artificial fat" ? Why so ?

I suspect this is the source of your confusion. Think of it this way. Grammatically, if I'm writing about fat in general there's no reason to use the definite article "the." If I'm referring to a particular kind, or subset of fat, I'd use "the" to differentiate it from other types of fat. In this case, "the fat" refers to the artificial fat mentioned in the first half of the sentence.

Break it down: Whether the vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat[/color.]
It would be awfully strange if the writer didn't intend "the fat" to refer to "the artificial fat" in the first half of the sentence, right? And how could it possibly be the case that fatty foods in general would contain certain vitamins? Butter has fat. But so do peanuts. And Avocados. And coconuts. Etc.

If the author had intended the meaning to be all fats, she'd have written something more akin to:

Whether the vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are generally present in fatty foods.

A. This is the best answer. This could be determined by the argument. Hence, A is the answer.
B. The argument doesn't help in stating any such statement.
C.We can't determine any such thing from the given argument.
D. There is no mention of the food prepared using artificial fat.
E.People's ability to detect the difference cannot be determined by the argument.