WeakenDiff: Hard
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Eating fat and sugar raises certain fats in your blood called triglycerides. People with high triglycerides have more heart attacks. So, eating fat and sugar must be what causes heart disease.
Conclusion: Consuming fat, processed sugar, or alcohol is a causal factor in heart disease.
Reasoning: These substances increase blood triglyceride levels, and people with high triglyceride levels are twice as likely to have heart attacks.
Analysis: This argument jumps from a correlation (high triglycerides and heart attacks) to a causal conclusion (fat/sugar cause heart disease). To weaken this, we should look for an answer that suggests triglycerides are merely a 'marker' or a side effect of heart disease rather than the cause of it. If something else causes both high triglycerides and heart disease, then cutting out the sugar might not actually stop the heart disease.
Conclusion: Consuming fat, processed sugar, or alcohol is a causal factor in heart disease.
Reasoning: These substances increase blood triglyceride levels, and people with high triglyceride levels are twice as likely to have heart attacks.
Analysis: This argument jumps from a correlation (high triglycerides and heart attacks) to a causal conclusion (fat/sugar cause heart disease). To weaken this, we should look for an answer that suggests triglycerides are merely a 'marker' or a side effect of heart disease rather than the cause of it. If something else causes both high triglycerides and heart disease, then cutting out the sugar might not actually stop the heart disease.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage20.Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?
Correct Answer
D
D provides a reverse-causation account: heart disease interferes with triglyceride metabolism, which can raise triglycerides. If high triglycerides are partly an effect of heart disease, then the observed correlation doesn’t show that consuming fat/sugar/alcohol is a causal factor in heart disease.
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