Critical Reasoning

Although migraine headaches are believed to be caused by food allergies, putting patients on diets that
eliminate those foods to which the patients have been demonstrated to have allergic migraine reactions
frequently does not stop headaches. Obviously, some other cause of migraine headaches besides food allergies
much exist.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?
(A) Many common foods elicit an allergic response only after several days, making it very difficult to observe
links between specific foods patients eat and headaches they develop.
(B) Food allergies affect many people who never develop the symptom of migraine headaches.
(C) Many patients report that the foods that cause them migraine headaches are among the foods that they
most enjoy eating.
(D) Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions as children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.
(E) Very rarely do food allergies cause patients to suffer a symptom more severe than that of migraine headache

A




i think D was an ambiguous contender, still not satidfied how they negated D.


Only because of very few ???If at all few people experienced it then its established that food was indeed the cause hence weakening the arguement.

Analogy - > "One poison dies with a poison or 100--- its proven from a single case that poison kills. "

Are we sure its A? I feel like D is more convincing.. I don't understand why A over D..

I went for A. I negated D because it strengthens the argument rather than weaken it. Very few people had migraine free life after eliminating the food from the diet to which they were allergic.

Premise : migraine headaches casued by food allergies, but after excluding those food from the diet that caused or demonstrated reactions, doesnt stopped headaches.

Conclusion : There are other reasons for the cause of headaches than specific food items.

Weaken : prove that the food that demonstrated the reaction is the cause behind the headache.

(A) Many common foods elicit an allergic response only after several days, making it very difficult to observe
links between specific foods patients eat and headaches they develop.

(D) Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions as children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic. strengthening the conclusion by stating that few people who eliminating the food from the diet to which they were allergic are migraine free

D neither strengthens nor weakens the argument.
If D strengthened the argument , it would have stated some other cause for the headaches .
If D seakened the argument , it would have given a reason why migraines persist even when people refrain from diets that constitute foods causing allergic migraines

IMO, D represents only a subset of migraine patients. It mentions only children who live migraine free lives as adults after avoiding allergic food.

Op A is a general statement that should apply to all migraine cases.

bblast wrote:Although migraine headaches are believed to be caused by food allergies, putting patients on diets that
eliminate those foods to which the patients have been demonstrated to have allergic migraine reactions
frequently does not stop headaches. Obviously, some other cause of migraine headaches besides food allergies
much exist.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?
(A) Many common foods elicit an allergic response only after several days, making it very difficult to observe
links between specific foods patients eat and headaches they develop.
(B) Food allergies affect many people who never develop the symptom of migraine headaches.
(C) Many patients report that the foods that cause them migraine headaches are among the foods that they
most enjoy eating.
(D) Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions as children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.
(E) Very rarely do food allergies cause patients to suffer a symptom more severe than that of migraine headache

A




i think D was an ambiguous contender, still not satidfied how they negated D.


Only because of very few ???If at all few people experienced it then its established that food was indeed the cause hence weakening the arguement.

Analogy - > "One poison dies with a poison or 100--- its proven from a single case that poison kills. "

Employing sentence correction concepts here for a second: D has a problem where a single subject "very few patients" has two verbs: "have" and "live", bu these two verbs are not connected in any way. A single subject cannot have two unconnected verbs. I believe D is missing a relative pronoun "who":

Very few patients who have allergic migraine reactions as children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.

As such, D actually strengthens the argument: it says that eliminating the allergenic foods from the diet doesn't work, as very few allergic children manage to live migraine free adult lives by eliminating the foods. If taking the offending item off the menu does not guarantee an allergy-free life, then there must indeed be some other cause.

Hi Geva
D says that Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions because children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.

mundasingh123 wrote:Hi Geva
D says that Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions because children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.

Meh. So the sentence is trying to say that Migraines have been all but eradicated in our world, i.e. only a few people still get migraines out of the entire population of the world? Unlikely to appear in a real GMAT question. So either the Question is a bad one, or it's a good one, but misquoted.

Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:

mundasingh123 wrote:Hi Geva
D says that Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions because children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.

Meh. So the sentence is trying to say that Migraines have been all but eradicated in our world, i.e. only a few people still get migraines out of the entire population of the world? Unlikely to appear in a real GMAT question. So either the Question is a bad one, or it's a good one, but misquoted.

i checked in the hard copy of OG-10 that i have,,,. pg 600 q-102, the text in red was missing, sorry for having copied the question from an old forum,.,.,


D>Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions as children and then live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.




however i still dont think that we can while heartedly throw out D. And yes this is an official question so should not be ambiguous.

bblast wrote:

Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:

mundasingh123 wrote:Hi Geva
D says that Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions because children live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.

Meh. So the sentence is trying to say that Migraines have been all but eradicated in our world, i.e. only a few people still get migraines out of the entire population of the world? Unlikely to appear in a real GMAT question. So either the Question is a bad one, or it's a good one, but misquoted.

i checked in the hard copy of OG-10 that i have,,,. pg 600 q-102, the text in red was missing, sorry for having copied the question from an old forum,.,.,


D>Very few patients have allergic migraine reactions as children and then live migraine-free adult lives once they have
eliminated from their diets foods to which they have been demonstrated to be allergic.




however i still dont think that we can while heartedly throw out D. And yes this is an official question so should not be ambiguous.

Thanks for correcting. In that case, I return to my original assertion that D actually strengthens the conclusion that there is some other cause for migraines, instead of weakening it: it says that eliminating the allergenic foods from the diet doesn't work, as very few allergic children manage to live migraine free adult lives by eliminating the foods. If taking the offending item off the menu does not guarantee an allergy-free life, then there must indeed be some other cause.