Self-study
Lactose, a sugar found in milk, aids in the absorption of calcium, which in turn is required for bone repair. ██ ████████ ██ █████ █████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Lactose helps the body absorb calcium, and calcium is needed for bone repair. So why don’t people in tropical areas, who drink less milk and who can’t absorb lactose, experience more problems with bone repair?
Objective
The correct answer will offer another factor that aids in the absorption of calcium. Since calcium is required for bone repair, but people from tropical areas can’t use lactose to aid in its absorption, there must be something else that serves the same function as lactose for those people.
5.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██████
a
People living in ████████ █████ ████████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████
People from tropical areas can’t absorb lactose, so these tablets wouldn’t help them. The correct answer must describe something other than lactose that aids in calcium absorption.
b
Milk consumption has ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██████
No matter the levels of milk consumption, tropical peoples remain unable to absorb lactose. This doesn't tell us what else, if not lactose, aids tropical peoples with calcium absorption.
c
The abundant sunlight ██ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ █ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████
This describes a factor other than lactose that serves the same essential function. This explains why tropical peoples don’t have issues with bone repair despite being unable to absorb lactose.
d
Consumption of dairy ████████ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████
This isn’t helpful because tropical peoples still can't absorb lactose. We don't know if there's some other nutrient in dairy products that helps to absorb calcium, so this isn't useful.
e
The extent to █████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███████ ██ █ ███████ ███████████████
This only tells us about the mechanism by which people lose the ability to absorb lactose. That doesn't resolve the apparent paradox, because we still don't know what aids tropical peoples with calcium absorption.