Many calcium supplements contain lead, a potentially dangerous substance even in small amounts. ███ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ █ █████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████ ███████████ ██ ████
Why do doctors argue that, for some people, calcium supplements with lead are better than no calcium supplements, even though even small amounts of lead can be harmful?
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference between taking calcium supplements with lead and not taking calcium at all. It should highlight some previously unaddressed negative effect of not taking calcium or positive effect of taking calcium. The answer must show that, for some people, not taking calcium at all is overall worse than taking calcium supplements that may contain lead.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████
Some fruits and ██████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████
The stimulus says the body can safely store trace amounts of lead, so (A) is irrelevant. Also, it doesn’t give a consequence of not taking calcium or a benefit of taking it to show why some people should take calcium supplements that contain lead rather than not take any at all.
It is difficult ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████ █████
It doesn’t matter whether someone can eliminate lead from their diet. Instead, we need an answer that highlights a negative effect of not taking calcium or a positive effect of taking it to explain why doctors recommend calcium supplements with lead over no calcium at all.
Lead is only ███ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████
There may be many other public health concerns that cause anemia and nerve damage, but we are only concerned with lead. We need a consequence of not taking calcium or a benefit of taking it that shows why calcium supplements with lead can be better than no calcium at all.
A high-calcium diet █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ███████
This increases the discrepancy by giving a negative effect of taking calcium— specifically that calcium might reduce people’s ability to tolerate lead. Instead, we need a positive effect of taking calcium and/or a negative effect of not taking it.
When calcium intake ██ █████████████ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ████████████
By showing what happens when calcium intake is insufficient, (E) highlights a previously unaddressed consequence of not taking calcium and a benefit of taking it. This explains why not taking calcium can be worse overall than taking supplements with lead.