The probability of avoiding heart disease is increased if one avoids fat in one's diet. Furthermore, one is less like...

Skylar on December 20, 2019

@shafieiava, maybe I can help.

The passage tells us that avoiding dairy means one is more likely to avoid fat which means one is more likely to avoid heart disease. From this, the conclusion that avoiding dairy means one is more likely to maintain good health is drawn.

We should be wary of this conclusion, as "maintaining good health" is a not previously mentioned in the passage. Although it may be tempting to assume that avoiding heart disease is synonymous with maintaining good health, this is not necessarily the case because "maintaining good health" is connected to more than the lack of heart disease (i.e. maintaining a balanced diet, etc). The correct answer will shed light on this distinction as a vulnerability.

(A) states that "the argument ignores the possibility that, even though a practice may have potentially negative consequences, its elimination may also have negative consequences." In the context of this passage, we can read this as "the argument ignores the possibility that, even though eating dairy may have potentially negative consequences [heart disease], its elimination may also have negative consequences [unbalanced diet, lack of calcium, etc.]." In other words, (A) notes that we can't say avoiding dairy leads to good health because, although it may reduce chances of heart disease, its exclusion may have other adverse effects that cause bad health. This weakens the conclusion of the passage and identifies the distinction we drew, so it is correct.

Does that make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions.

shafieiava on December 23, 2019

Yes- thank you for the explanation!

Ravi on January 16, 2020

@shafieiava, let us know if you have any other questions!

lsatstudier1 on September 18, 2020

Why isn't it D? I noticed the term shift in the conclusion to "maintaining good health" and I thought this would be best paraphrased as "D) The argument fails to show that the evidence appealed to is relevant to the conclusion asserted."