People who need to reduce their intake of fat and to consume fewer calories often turn to fat substitutes, especially...

Mehran on October 31, 2016

@krys sure! Let's take a closer look.

The conclusion here is that "studies indicate that N5 is of no use to such people." Such people being people who need to reduce their intake of fat and to consume fewer calories.

The support? "Subjects who ate foods prepared with N5 almost invariably reported feeling hungrier afterwards than after eating foods prepared with real fat and consequently they ate more, quickly making up for the calories initially saved by using N5."

This is an "Errors in Reasoning" question so we are looking for the answer choice that identifies the logical fallacy here.

Notice that "such people" are people who need to reduce their intake of fat AND to consume fewer calories. The studies show that subjects who ate foods prepared with N5 ate more, quickly making up for the calories initially saved by using N5, which means that these subjects are not consuming fewer calories.

However, it would be improper to conclude that "N5 is of no use to such people" since such people have two goals, only one of which seems to be frustrated by N5 (i.e. consuming fewer calories).

If these subjects were able to reduce their intake of fat by eating foods prepared with N5, then N5 would still be of use to such people.

This is exactly what answer choice (E) points out, i.e. "the total fat intake of people who eat foods prepared with N5 tends to decrease even if their caloric intake does not."

So (E) is the correct answer since the argument is failing to consider this possibility.

(D) is irrelevant since this study showed that subjects who at foods prepared with N5 ate more, regardless of whether they were aware it was calorie free or not.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

krys on November 2, 2016

Ok. I get it now! Thanks.