Self-paced
Although nondairy coffee lighteners made with coconut oil contain 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon, or 7 times more than does whole milk, those lighteners usually contain no cholesterol. ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ████████ █ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████████
Stimulus Summary
The stimulus doesn't contain an argument; it just gives us some facts about coffee lighteners. This is what it says:
(1) coconut-oil-based nondairy coffee lighteners contain 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon;
(2) coconut-oil-based nondairy coffee lighteners contain no cholesterol;
(3) whole milk contains much less saturated fat than do coconut-oil-based nondairy coffee lighteners;
(4) whole milk contains 2 milligrams of cholesterol per tablespoon; and
(5) drinking one tablespoon of coconut-oil-based nondairy coffee lighteners increases blood cholesterol moreso than drinking one tablespoon of whole milk.
9.
Manufacturers of coffee lighteners based ██ ███████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ███████ ████████████ █████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ █ █████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ████ ██ █ ██████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████████████ ██████
a
Consumers of lighteners ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ████████████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████████████ █████ ███████████ ███████
(A) makes a comparison within the group of coconut-oil-based coffee lightener users. But we need a comparison between that group and whole milk users. (A) would explain why some coconut-oil-based coffee lightener users have lower blood cholesterol than others, but not why coconut-oil-based coffee lighteners typically increase users' blood cholesterol less than whole milk.
b
Coffee is frequently ████████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ███████████ ███████
(B) doesn't make any comparison at all; it's just talking about coffee drinkers in general. Because it doesn't distinguish between coconut-oil-based coffee lightener users and whole milk users, (B) can't explain why the former product generally raises blood cholesterol less than the latter.
c
One popular nondairy ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████
Like (A), (C) compares within the group of coconut-oil-based coffee lightener users, which isn't a relevant comparison for us. On top of that, it's unclear if (C) is relevant at all, since we don't know whether fat content affects blood cholesterol.
d
Consumers typically add ██ █████ ██████ █████████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████████████████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ █████
(D) gives us a comparison between coconut-oil-based coffee lightener users and whole milk users to explain how the former product can possibly increase blood cholesterol less in typical use. Even though using the same amount would mean coconut-oil-based coffee lighteners increase blood cholesterol more, consumers just use way less than they would whole milk.
e
Most consumers are █████████ ████ █████ █████ ████████ ████████ █████ ███████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ████
What consumers think happens isn't relevant to the manufacturers' claim, which is about what actually happens. Consumers' beliefs about blood cholesterol do nothing to explain the actual effects of different products on blood cholesterol.