Logical reasoning PrepTest 127 · Section 2 · Question 6

Incorrect. The relevant comparison is between potassium levels in fresh vs. frozen/canned fruits/veggies.

Incorrect. There doesn't need to be more sodium in these fruits/veggies for the argument to work, just less potassium.

Incorrect. Even if other minerals protect against sodium, they may be significantly rarer or harder to get into the diet than potassium, and thus the recommendation could still hold.

Incorrect. The argument is only about maintaining cardiac health, so if fresh fruits/vegetables have side effects unrelated to heart health, the argument can still work. This answer is out of scope in bringing up other health issues that could stem from eating fresh fruits/veggies.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Necessary Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Sodium causes heart disease. Potassium counteracts these effects.
Goal: Protect heart while eating sodium
Method: Avoid canned/frozen fruits/veggies and eat fresh ones.

Answer Anticipation:
This argument establishes a few causal relationships. First, sodium causes heart disease. Second, potassium protects the heart from sodium. The Dietitian then establishes an interesting goal—not just to protect the heart, but also to keep eating sodium. In order to accomplish that, based on the premises, one should eat potassium. However, instead of concluding that, the Dietitian starts talking about eating fresh fruits/veggies rather than frozen/canned fruit/veggies. For that recommendation to make sense, there must be more potassium in fresh fruit/veggies compared to the frozen/canned alternatives.

Answer Explanation:
This answer draws the connection that justifies the Dietitian's recommendation. If fresh fruits/veggies don't have more potassium than canned/frozen alternatives, then there's no reason to recommend that shift for people who want to protect their heart from sodium.

Key Takeaway:
Goal/recommendation arguments are strongly related to causal arguments, as a means for achieving a goal is necessarily going to rely on a cause/effect relationship. Framing questions through this lens can make it a lot easier to handle these concepts and see where the gap in the logic is!