Self-study
Support In a recent study of more than 400 North American men and women whose previous heart attack put them at risk for a second heart attack, about half were told to switch to a "Mediterranean-type diet"—one rich in fish, vegetables, olive oil, and grains—while the other half were advised to eat a more traditional "Western" diet but to limit their fat intake. █████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ████ ████ █████████████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ █ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ ███ █████████████ ████ ████████ █ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ █ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that a diet doesn’t have to be extremely low in fat to protect the heart. She supports this with a study of over 400 people at risk for a second heart attack. Half followed a Mediterranean diet, while the other half followed a low-fat “Western” diet. Those on the Mediterranean diet, which contains a fair amount of fat, were less likely to have a second heart attack.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that a diet that is not low in fat can protect the heart. She also assumes that the study was well-conducted and that the participants actually followed the diets. Additionally, she assumes that there are no relevant differences between the groups other than diet, and that the diet itself, not other factors, reduced the risk of a second heart attack.
1.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
Research has shown ████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ███████
Irrelevant. The argument focuses on a diet that does not eliminate fat from one’s diet. (A) doesn’t help to establish that such a diet can indeed protect the heart.
b
Studies suggest that ███ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████████ █████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████
This strengthens the argument by suggesting that at least one diet that isn’t low in fat— the Mediterranean diet— may be able to protect the heart. This suggests that a fatty diet can protect the heart and that the Mediterranean diet may have caused the reduced risk in the study.
Causal mechanism
Causal mechanism
Answers that strengthen by shedding light on the "how?" of the cause and effect relationship. For example, high altitude training causes better aerobic performance. How? The causal mechanism could be that the thin air at high altitudes cause physiological changes that support better oxygenation.
c
The patients who ████████ ███ █████████████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████
Irrelevant. It doesn’t matter whether the patients enjoyed the diet or continued to follow it. It only matters whether the diet actually made them less likely to have a second heart attack during the study.
d
Many people who ████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ █████ █████
Irrelevant. The author is only addressing the effects of the Mediterranean diet vs. the low-fat Western diet on the heart attack risk of the 400 people studied. It doesn’t matter whether exercise also lowers heart attack risk.
e
Some cardiologists believe ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ████ █████ █████████████████ ███████
Irrelevant. It doesn’t matter whether the protection afforded by the Mediterranean diet can be enhanced by certain drugs. Instead, we need to know whether the Mediterranean diet actually can protect the heart in the first place.