Q11 - Medical research has established that

[tzyc]

I do not understand why (B) is the answer...I was not sure between (C) and (D)...
Could anyone explain this plz??
Thank you.

[tommywallach]

Hey Strawberry,

So this is an "Explain a Result" question. First, let's summarize the "weirdness" (as I like to think of it):

The Beta Diet is healthier than a conventional diet, but people who follow the Beta diet are less healthy than people who follow a conventional diet.

That's weird! We need an explanation for how it's possible to be on a healthier diet, but end up less healthy. My guess (and I promise I haven't looked at the answers yet) is that the right answer will explain why the kind of people who do the Beta diet end up being much less healthy in other aspects of their lives.

(A) This only makes the result stranger, because the people in question are healthier in other aspects of their lives.

(B) Aha! This gives a reason why the people on the Beta Diet are likely to be generally more unhealthy than the average person.

(C) Again, this makes the result weirder, because it's providing yet more evidence that people on the Beta Diet should be healthier than people on a conventional diet.

(D) Again, this makes the result weirder, because it's saying that everybody gets some kind of benefit. Whether it's a dramatic benefit or a small benefit, it's still a benefit. So why are people on the Beta Diet less healthy?

(E) is totally out of scope, because it brings up a third diet possibility, whereas we only care about the difference between Beta and conventional.

Hope that helps!

-t

[tzyc]

Could you explain how (B) helps to explain the discrepancy a little more?
What does adversely mean??
Than you.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

"Adversely" means "negatively." It means that it had a negative impact on their health. Answer choice (B) explains the poor health of people on the Beta diet in a tricky way. The stimulus never said that the poor health came from the Beta diet, just that people on the Beta diet had on average poorer health. Answer choice (B) offers us an explanation for their poor health--some other condition that negatively affects their health.

Hope that helps!

[luxembourg222]

Hello,

I was wondering for answer choice (A), would it be mistaken to think that people who have followed only *several decades*(stimulus) are the problem? Like (A) is saying, if they have followed for their *entire lives*, finally the Beta Diet miracle kicks in so that their health condition can be improve. When I was reading the passage, 'several decades' catches my attention, so that is how my logic worked. Or 'having a variety of healthful habits' is too weak to prove my logic?
Thank you in advance!