Self-study
Support Numerous studies have demonstrated a pronounced negative correlation between high-fiber diets and the incidence of colon cancer. ███ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███████████ █████████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██ █ █████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that insufficient consumption of fiber causes colon cancer, and sufficient consumption of fiber prevents it. This is based on the fact that numerous studies show a negative correlation between high-fiber diets and colon cancer.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the reason there’s a negative correlation between high-fiber diets and colon cancer is that high-fiber prevents colon cancer. This overlooks alternate explanations for the correlation. For example, there might be something else that is associated with high-fiber diets that helps prevent colon cancer. Or perhaps having colon cancer causes one to reduce one’s fiber intake.
25.
The argument's reasoning is vulnerable ██ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████
a
the consumption of █████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████████
This possibility doesn’t undermine the argument, because we have no idea whether colon cancer rates are increasing or decreasing in these countries.
b
the risk of ████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████
If anything, this might strengthen the argument by establishing a stronger connection between high-fiber diets and cancer reduction.
c
fiber is difficult ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ █████
The difficulty of including fiber in a diet has no bearing on whether the negative correlation between high-fiber and colon cancer is due to high-fiber preventing colon cancer.
d
the fiber in ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████████████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███████
The author never assumed that fiber in fruits/veggies and fiber in cereals had the exact same level of cancer-fighting properties. There can be differences; this doesn’t undermine the author’s reasoning.
e
foods containing fiber ████ ███████ █████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████
This possibility, if true, shows that the negative correlation between high-fiber and colon cancer might be explained by the other substances in foods that contain fiber. It could be these other substances that reduce colon cancer, and not the fiber.