Thanks for the question! So let’s take a look at this argument first. We’re told that 60 adults kept track of their meals. And when they drank alcoholic beverages, they consumed more calories from nonalcoholic sources than they did when they didn’t drink alcoholic beverages.
Now we’re asked for the answer choice that doesn’t help explain this phenomenon. So let’s take a look at (B) first. We’re told that the meals eaten later in the day tended to be larger than those eaten earlier in the day, and later meals were more likely to include alcohol. Well, if that’s the case, then there’s a third factor contributing to both of these factors: time. And that helps explain this correlation between alcoholic beverage intake and increased caloric consumption: people generally drink at late meals, and they just eat more at late meals.
Now take a look at (E), which tells us that at meals including alcohol, relatively more of the total calories consumed came from carbs and fewer came from fats and proteins. Does this help explain the difference? No, not at all, because all we care about is the total amount of calories, and not what exactly constitutes those calories (carbs vs. fats vs. proteins). So (E) doesn’t help explain the overall difference, and is incorrect.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.
