Self-study
So-called "engineered foods," usually in powder or liquid form, consist of protein that is distilled from natural sources and supplemented with vitamins and minerals. ████████ ███ █████ █████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████████ █████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██████
Summary
The author concludes that athletes shouldn’t consume engineered foods.
Why? Because of the following:
Engineered foods don’t improve muscle strength.
Athletes need to improve their muscle strength.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there’s nothing else that engineered foods can do that would benefit athletes. (This is why the author thinks the mere fact that engineered foods don’t improve muscle strength is enough reason to recommend athletes not eat these foods.)
21.
The argument depends on assuming █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
An increase in ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████████
Not necessary, because we know that the amino acids in engineered foods don’t increase muscle mass and therefore don’t improve muscle strength. Whether an increase in muscle mass would produce increased strength is irrelevant, because we’re concerned with what happens when there’s no increase in muscle mass.
b
People who are ███ ████████ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████████
Not necessary, becaue the author’s argument doesn’t make any recommendations for non-athletes.
c
If an engineered ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ ███
Necessary, because if it were not true — if there IS another substantial advantage to athletes from consuming engineered foods even if such foods don’t improve muscle strength — then maybe athletes still should eat engineered foods. The other benefit provided by the foods might constitute enough reason to eat the foods, even if the foods don’t help with muscle strength.
d
Consuming engineered foods ████ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████
Not necessary, because the author never argues that there are harmful effects from eating engineered foods.
e
Growth of muscle ████ ████████ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████
Not necessary, because the argument concerns a food that doesn’t increase muscle mass and doesn’t improve muscle strength. What might be true when something does increase muscle mass is irrelevant.