Critical Reasoning

Black Americans are, on the whole, about twice as likely as White Americans to develop high blood pressure. This likelihood also holds for westernized Black Africans when compared to White Africans.
Researchers have hypothesized that this predisposition in westernized Blacks may reflect an interaction between western high-salt diets and genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt.
Which of the following statements about present-day, westernized Black Africans, if true, would most tend to confirm the researchers’ hypothesis?
(A) The blood pressures of those descended from peoples situated throughout their history in Senegal and Gambia, where salt was always available, are low.
(B) The unusually high salt consumption in certain areas of Africa represents a serious health problem.
(C) Because of their blood pressure levels, most White Africans have markedly decreased their salt consumption.
(D) Blood pressures are low among the Yoruba, who, throughout their history, have been situated far inland from sources of sea salt and far south of Saharan salt mines.
(E) No significant differences in salt metabolism have been found between those people who have had salt available throughout their history and those who have not.

OA after some posts. Don't reply without reasoning.

anshulseth wrote:Black Americans are, on the whole, about twice as likely as White Americans to develop high blood pressure. This likelihood also holds for westernized Black Africans when compared to White Africans.
Researchers have hypothesized that this predisposition in westernized Blacks may reflect an interaction between western high-salt diets and genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt.
Which of the following statements about present-day, westernized Black Africans, if true, would most tend to confirm the researchers’ hypothesis?
(A) The blood pressures of those descended from peoples situated throughout their history in Senegal and Gambia, where salt was always available, are low.
(B) The unusually high salt consumption in certain areas of Africa represents a serious health problem.
(C) Because of their blood pressure levels, most White Africans have markedly decreased their salt consumption.
(D) Blood pressures are low among the Yoruba, who, throughout their history, have been situated far inland from sources of sea salt and far south of Saharan salt mines.
(E) No significant differences in salt metabolism have been found between those people who have had salt available throughout their history and those who have not.

OA after some posts. Don't reply without reasoning.

I would go with [spoiler][E][/spoiler]. This was a time sucker!
[spoiler][E][/spoiler] - Negate this one

Some significant differences in salt metabolism have been found between those people who have not had salt available throughout their history (LIKE- westernized BLACKS) and those who have had salt available throughout their history (LIKE westernized White Americans)

[A]- "always": extreme and stimulus does not talk about Senegal or Gambia nor do we know about the composition of westernized Blacks and White Africans

- we're not discussing about the severity of the health problems

[C]- "most": extreme and predisposition that is hypothesized is about Westernized Blacks and not White Africans

[D]- Initially, I thought about this as a contender, but then realized nothing has been stated about Yoruba folks

what is OA?

I'd go with A, since IF it's true that Black Africans have more of a high-blood-pressure risk because their genes adapted to low-salt environments, it's logical that those BA's that are from salt-rich countries shouldn't have the same issue.

Thus: A confirms the conclusion of the researchers.

B+C have nothing to do with the research conclusions that are at the basis of the question

D: If the Yoruba (who haven't been in contact with salt) have low bp issues, this would tend to disprove the research

E: Completely contradicts the research (instead of confirming)

IMO - D

Argument says that reasons for high blood pressure are -

1. High salt diets
2. Genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt.

D - strengthens the hypothesis by claiming that blood pressures are low among Yoruba, who have been miles away from salt regions.

OA please?

OA : A

I saw Objectivo's explanations, but am still not able to read the logic in this CR. Would request more explanations.

A is the most suitable option in this case