A diet high in saturated fats increases a person's risk of developing heart disease. Regular consumption of red wine reduces...
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
A diet high in saturated fats increases a person's risk of developing heart disease. Regular consumption of red wine reduces that risk. Per-capita consumption of saturated fats is currently about the same in France as in the United States, but there is less heart disease there than in the United States because consumption of red wine is higher in France. The difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing, but no similar convergence in heart-disease rates has occurred.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the lack of convergence noted above?
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| A diet high in saturated fats increases a person's risk of developing heart disease. |
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| Regular consumption of red wine reduces that risk. |
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| Per-capita consumption of saturated fats is currently about the same in France as in the United States, but there is less heart disease there than in the United States because consumption of red wine is higher in France. |
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| The difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing, but no similar convergence in heart-disease rates has occurred. |
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Argument Flow:
The passage sets up two health factors (saturated fats increase heart disease, red wine decreases it), then uses these to explain why France has less heart disease than the US despite similar saturated fat intake. Finally, it presents a puzzle: red wine consumption is becoming more similar between countries, but heart disease rates aren't converging as we'd expect.
Main Conclusion:
There's an unexplained puzzle - red wine consumption differences are narrowing between France and the US, but heart disease rates aren't converging as the red wine theory would predict.
Logical Structure:
This isn't a traditional argument with premises supporting a conclusion. Instead, it's a 'set up the mystery' structure: establish the theory (red wine explains France's advantage) → show the theory has a problem (convergence in wine isn't leading to convergence in disease) → ask us to solve the mystery.
Prethinking:
Question type:
Paradox - We need to explain why heart disease rates haven't converged even though red wine consumption differences are narrowing between France and the US.
Precision of Claims
The key claims involve specific relationships: saturated fats increase heart disease risk, red wine reduces it, France has higher red wine consumption and lower heart disease rates, and the red wine consumption gap is narrowing but heart disease rates aren't converging.
Strategy
For paradox questions, we need to find explanations that resolve the apparent contradiction. The puzzle is: if red wine protects against heart disease and France/US are drinking more similar amounts now, why aren't their heart disease rates getting closer? We need scenarios that explain why this expected convergence isn't happening, while accepting all the facts given.
This choice talks about how saturated fats affect artery walls rather than directly causing heart disease. However, this doesn't help explain our paradox at all. Whether saturated fats work directly or indirectly through artery deposits, this doesn't explain why heart disease rates haven't converged as red wine consumption becomes more similar between countries. This is essentially irrelevant to the puzzle we need to solve.
This suggests France's saturated fat consumption has increased while the US stayed the same over 30 years. If anything, this would make the puzzle worse, not better. If France is now eating more saturated fats than the US (which increase heart disease risk), we'd expect France's heart disease advantage to shrink even more. This doesn't explain why the narrowing wine consumption gap hasn't led to convergence in heart disease rates.
This tells us that Americans are drinking more red wine due to health reports. This actually supports the idea that wine consumption differences are narrowing, but it doesn't explain why this hasn't led to heart disease convergence. If anything, this makes the puzzle more mysterious by confirming that Americans really are drinking more red wine.
This mentions that smoking rates are only slightly higher in France than the US. Since smoking contributes to heart disease, this tiny difference can't explain why France maintains a significant heart disease advantage. The difference described here is too small to account for the lack of convergence in heart disease rates.
This is our answer because it perfectly explains the paradox. The key insight is about timing. Even though overall red wine consumption is converging, the decline is happening among young adults in France. Since heart disease typically doesn't appear until middle age, the current middle-aged French population (who would show heart disease symptoms now) still grew up with the traditional high levels of red wine consumption. The young adults with lower wine consumption won't show heart disease effects for decades. This explains why we see convergence in current drinking patterns but no convergence in current heart disease rates.