Self-study
Medical researcher: Studies in North America have shown that the incidence of heart disease in a population is closely related to the average fat consumption for individuals in that population. ████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why do residents of France have a rate of heart disease half that of North Americans, even though they eat as much fat as North Americans, and studies in North America show that the rate of heart disease in a population is closely related to the average fat consumption of individuals in that population?
Objective
The correct answer should tell us something special about the French compared to North Americans that would lead to a lower rate of heart disease.
10.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████
a
The average level ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████
This doesn’t differentiate the French from North Americans. In addition, we already know the French eat just as much fat as North Americans. We have no reason to think that higher rates of fat consumption in the past have any impact.
b
Other factors of ████ ███████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████
If this has any impact, it deepens our confusion. If other diet factors haven’t been linked to heart disease, then it’s harder to explain the discrepancy by pointing to a difference in other foods eaten by the French and North Americans.
c
Heart disease takes █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████ ████ █ ███ █████ ████
This points out a difference between French and North Americans that could explain the French people’s lower heart rate. They only recently reached the same level of fat consumption as North Americans, so the French’s heart disease rate may not have had enough time to rise.
d
Certain diseases other ████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ █ ██████ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████
We’re trying to explain the discrepancy in heart disease rate. Lack of difference in rates of other disease doesn’t help explain why the French have a different rate of heart disease from North Americans.
e
Cigarette smoking significantly █████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ █ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ █████ ████████
This deepens our confusion, because it would lead us to expect the French to have a higher rate of heart disease than North Americans. But they actually have a lower rate.