Critical Reasoning

According to a recent study, 26 percent of women and 19 percent of men in the United States said they were on a diet, down from 35 percent of women and 26 percent of men in 1990. As a result, obesity in the United States has increased from 15.6 percent in 1995 to 23.9 percent today.

Which of the following statements would be the most helpful in evaluating the validity of this conclusion?

A. Although the percent of people who are dieting has decreased, 60 percent of U.S. adults say they would like to lose 20 pounds.
B. It is estimated that 60 percent of the adult population in the United States is overweight.
C. Weight Watchers is among the most popular diets in the United States.
D. Diets have only a 5.2 percent success rate; within three to five years, almost all dieters are back up to original body weight.
E. In 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General declared an obesity epidemic, stating that roughly 300,000 deaths a year can be attributed to obesity.

as we can see that the numbers have reduced..and obesity has increased...
this is a question where the answer choices are assumed to be true and should help in explaiing this discrepancy.

Conclusion talks about obesity

On initial glance
A --> no mention of obesity..i am a skinny person and I also want to loose 20 pounds..so I will say that this is OOC( out of context )
B --> 60% when..no specific information..

C --> OOC ( out of context )

D --> cream of the crap...Looks like the best answer to me..Whats the OA..

E --> Again we have been given obesity and number of deaths..but it still does not help

I was fighting between A, B and D

We need to show something that says number of people back to their diet are increased and those who are dieting are reduced.

A and B do not help in to find out the same. But D does. Therefore, D is correct here.

gmatrant wrote:According to a recent study, 26 percent of women and 19 percent of men in the United States said they were on a diet, down from 35 percent of women and 26 percent of men in 1990. As a result, obesity in the United States has increased from 15.6 percent in 1995 to 23.9 percent today.

Which of the following statements would be the most helpful in evaluating the validity of this conclusion?

A. Although the percent of people who are dieting has decreased, 60 percent of U.S. adults say they would like to lose 20 pounds.
B. It is estimated that 60 percent of the adult population in the United States is overweight.
C. Weight Watchers is among the most popular diets in the United States.
D. Diets have only a 5.2 percent success rate; within three to five years, almost all dieters are back up to original body weight.
E. In 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General declared an obesity epidemic, stating that roughly 300,000 deaths a year can be attributed to obesity.

reply2spg wrote:I was fighting between A, B and D

We need to show something that says number of people back to their diet are increased and those who are dieting are reduced.

A and B do not help in to find out the same. But D does. Therefore, D is correct here.

gmatrant wrote:According to a recent study, 26 percent of women and 19 percent of men in the United States said they were on a diet, down from 35 percent of women and 26 percent of men in 1990. As a result, obesity in the United States has increased from 15.6 percent in 1995 to 23.9 percent today.

Which of the following statements would be the most helpful in evaluating the validity of this conclusion?

A. Although the percent of people who are dieting has decreased, 60 percent of U.S. adults say they would like to lose 20 pounds.
B. It is estimated that 60 percent of the adult population in the United States is overweight.
C. Weight Watchers is among the most popular diets in the United States.
D. Diets have only a 5.2 percent success rate; within three to five years, almost all dieters are back up to original body weight.
E. In 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General declared an obesity epidemic, stating that roughly 300,000 deaths a year can be attributed to obesity.

A: The conclusion states that because of the decrease in percentage of people on a diet, obesity increased. Neither A nor B mention this change. On the other hand D mentions this change. Hope this helped!

i chose A ...
on going throught Q it looks like D is correct.
the author says that percentage of people on diet has reduced.but this is due to less proportion of result