Self-study
A recent study confirmed that salt intake tends to increase blood pressure and found that, as a result, people with high blood pressure who significantly cut their salt intake during the study had lower blood pressure by the end of the study. ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why do some people who consume lots of salt have high blood pressure while others have very low blood pressure?
Objective
Any hypothesis explaining these results must state a distinction among people with high salt intake that explains why some have high blood pressure while others have low blood pressure. It may indicate that people react differently to a high salt intake, or it may be unrelated to salt intake altogether.
20.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████
a
Study participants with ████ █████ ████████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████ █████████████ █████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ██████
This does not explain why people with high salt intake have such different blood pressures. It draws no distinction between groups of people who consume lots of salt.
b
Salt intake is ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████ █████ █████████
This would explain why people with low salt intake have high blood pressure, but not why those with high salt intake have low blood pressure. It does not state that these dietary factors make low blood pressure possible despite a high salt intake.
c
For most people ███ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ █████████
This refers only to people with high blood pressure, and does not explain how people with high salt intake have very low blood pressure. It is not stated whether these other dietary changes will cause a person to have very low blood pressure.
d
At the beginning ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █████ █████████
This refers to people with low salt intake, not high salt intake. It does not explain why those with high salt intake can have low blood pressure.
e
Persons suffering from ██████████ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ████
This explains why some people with high salt intake have low blood pressure. They have very low blood pressure in the first place, and their salt consumption prevents it from dropping even lower.