Westernized Black Americans

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Westernized Black Americans

by italian7745 » Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:14 am
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.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by papgust » Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:04 am
italian7745 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.

It should be D IMO. We need to strengthen the argument by showing that westernized Black-Americans are descended from a group situated far from sources of salt i.e. environmental scarcity of salt and also that group of people's blood pressure is normally low. D does it exactly. So, this should be the best answer.

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by pandeyvineet24 » Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:40 pm
Should be D.
D is the only one that supports the claim that low blood pressure is common among people who are deprived of salt.

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by mehravikas » Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:39 pm
IMO - D

Reasoning - Same as above

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by italian7745 » Fri Nov 27, 2009 9:57 pm
Anyone else ?? d is not the OA

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by italian7745 » Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:00 pm
Anyone else ?? d is not the OA

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by nakul_anand » Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:17 am
IMO - B

Option D does not tell us that the people from Yoruba do not consume high amount of salt. The option tells us that these people have been situated far from the sources of salt. They might live away from the sources of salt and still consume more salt.

B- the unusually high consumption of salt represents a serious health problem. This means that the people do not react well to the high consumption of salt. This is what happens in the West as well.

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by nakul_anand » Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:18 am
IMO - B

Option D does not tell us that the people from Yoruba do not consume high amount of salt. The option tells us that these people have been situated far from the sources of salt. They might live away from the sources of salt and still consume more salt.

B- the unusually high consumption of salt represents a serious health problem. This means that the people do not react well to the high consumption of salt. This is what happens in the West as well.

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by gmatmachoman » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:13 pm
Nice CR!!

IMO C

Reasoning : 1.Black Americans Vs White Americans. 2. westernized Black Africans Vs White Africans.

The reason stated for Black Americans to have high blood pressure compared to White Americans is that there is (negative) interaction between the genes( which is adapted to low salt environment) and high salt food.

Now the argument ask us to support the Researcher's hypothesis by in someway that westernized Black Africans also has high BP than White Africans.

C states that :Because of their blood pressure levels, most White Africans have markedly decreased their salt consumption.

Let us try to negate this one.If they would have increased their salt content , their BP would have risen to greater levels because of the mismatch as stated in the hypothesis.

The researcher's argument could be strengthened by assuming that White Africans consumed less salt content food than Westernized Africans to keep their BP in control .

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by 2010gmat » Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:43 pm
IMO A

researchers say that Wb's genes tht ar accustomd to low salt diet cannot tolerate high salt diet of whites...

and they develop high BP...

A simply tells us about africans who are used to high salt diet and have low Bp...their genes have adapted to high salt diets...

in sum high bp of WBs has to do with intolerance of their genes to high salt diets

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by 2010gmat » Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:44 pm
IMO A

researchers say that Wb's genes tht ar accustomd to low salt diet cannot tolerate high salt diet of whites...

and they develop high BP...

A simply tells us about africans who are used to high salt diet and have low Bp...their genes have adapted to high salt diets...

in sum high bp of WBs has to do with intolerance of their genes to high salt diets

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by gmatmachoman » Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:24 am
2010gmat wrote:IMO A

researchers say that Wb's genes tht ar accustomd to low salt diet cannot tolerate high salt diet of whites...

and they develop high BP...

A simply tells us about africans who are used to high salt diet and have low Bp...their genes have adapted to high salt diets...

in sum high bp of WBs has to do with intolerance of their genes to high salt diets
@2010gmat!

How do u know that all westernized Black Africans, are from Senegal. ???

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by 2010gmat » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:46 am
i never said that all WB are from Senegal...i am just saying that the researchers assertion gets a boost from A...

because it says that genetics has to do something with salt adaptability of the body...

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by italian7745 » Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:13 am
OA is A

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