Vitamin C

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Vitamin C

by pandeyvineet24 » Wed Dec 24, 2008 10:27 am
A nutritionist studying the effects of massive doses of vitamin C found that of a group of 600 people who regularly took 1,500 mg of vitamin C daily for a year, fewer than 9 percent suffered serious cases of flu; of a group of 600 people who took 250 mg of vitamin C (the standard recommended daily allowance) daily for a year, 34 percent suffered at least one serious case of flu; and of a group of 600 people who took no vitamin C for a year (other than that found in the foods in a balanced diet), 32 percent suffered at least one serious case of flu.
Which of the following hypotheses is best supported by the evidence above?
(A) The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing serious cases of flu increases in direct proportion to the amount of vitamin C taken.
(B) Vitamin C is helpful in preventing disease.
(C) Doses of vitamin C that exceed the standard recommended daily allowance by 500 percent will reduce the incidence of serious cases of flu by 25 percent.
(D) Massive doses of vitamin C can help to prevent serious case of flu.
(E) A balanced diet contains less than 250 mg of vitamin C.

Can anyone explain why E is wrong ?
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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IMO D

by hariharakarthi » Wed Dec 24, 2008 7:04 pm
- It is must be true question
- Stimulus contains fact sets
- Stimulus gives series of test results of the effect of vitamin C
- Question stem asks the conclusion.
- IMO Ans A

The stimulus gives the test results according the amt of vitamin C intake.
In the third case, the amt of vitamin is not mentioned (as in the balanced diet) The balanced diet will have all the vitamins in correct proportion. Hence, it will also have vitamin C. But, in a balanced form.

The sample rate is same 600 ppl in each case.

So, it effectively displays the effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing flu.

Ans B: Generic stmt.
C: Not correct.
D: Massive doses - stimulus doesnot mention abt it.
E: New information. Not mentioned in the stimulus.

So, Ans A is correct one

Regards,
Karthi S

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by gmatman1 » Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:32 am
I cannot agree with hariharakarthi. In my opinion the correct answer is (D). My answer is also supported by the following web site (Q14):

https://news.iciba.com/a/20080714/5086.shtml

(A) is False. If it would be True then the the percentage of sick people who took 250 mg of vitamin C (34%) should be lower than the percentage of sick people who who took no vitamin C (32%).

(E) is False. This statement cannot be based on the information given in the argument.

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by nervesofsteel » Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:00 am
A) The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing serious cases of flu increases in direct proportion to the amount of vitamin C taken. <- wrong as second and third example given in stimulus contradicts this answer

(B) Vitamin C is helpful in preventing disease. < - wrong as its too general..

(C) Doses of vitamin C that exceed the standard recommended daily allowance by 500 percent will reduce the incidence of serious cases of flu by 25 percent. <- not supported .. and 25 % of what..??

(D) Massive doses of vitamin C can help to prevent serious case of flu.<- correct

(E) A balanced diet contains less than 250 mg of vitamin C. <- wrong as balanced diet cotains 250 mg as stated in passage...

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by Indradeep » Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:26 am
I think it is C because in factual and figure based questions, it is always easy to compute.
500 times daily use = 1500 mg
25% = 34%-9%
That is how I would have selected C
OA?

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by gmatman1 » Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:02 am
Indradeep wrote:I think it is C because in factual and figure based questions, it is always easy to compute.
500 times daily use = 1500 mg
25% = 34%-9%
That is how I would have selected C
OA?
I would like to let you know that according to other web sites the correct answer is (D). Both nervesofsteel and I explained why.

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by agarwalmanoj2000 » Tue Jul 19, 2011 4:05 pm
(D) Massive doses of vitamin C can help to prevent serious case of flu.

It seems to me answer should not be D because the word "Massive" is subjective. It may mean different amount to different people. For person A, 1500 mg of vitamin may be massive but for person B, 5000 mg of vitamin may be massive. In addition, who knows that on taking higher level of doses say over 1500 mg vitamin will continue to decrease the occurrence of flu.

Overall I could not zero down on any option. This question is ambiguous. Anyways nice to see different opinion and reasoning.

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by ColumbiaVC » Tue Jul 19, 2011 4:19 pm
C or D

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by need720+ » Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:16 pm
IMO D