Many breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin supplements. Some of these cereals provide 100 percent of the recommended daily requirement...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

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Many breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin supplements. Some of these cereals provide 100 percent of the recommended daily requirement of vitamins. Nevertheless, a well-balanced breakfast, including a variety of foods, is a better source of those vitamins than are such fortified breakfast cereals alone.

Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support the position above?

In many foods, the natural combination of vitamins with other nutrients makes those vitamins more usable by the body than are vitamins added in vitamin supplements.

People who regularly eat cereals fortified with vitamin supplements sometimes neglect to eat the foods in which the vitamins occur naturally.

Foods often must be fortified with vitamin supplements because naturally occurring vitamins are removed during processing.

Unprocessed cereals are naturally high in several of the vitamins that are usually added to fortified breakfast cereals.

Cereals containing vitamin supplements are no harder to digest than similar cereals without added vitamins.

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
Many breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin supplements.	What it says: Lots of breakfast cereals have added vitamins What it does: Sets up the topic about vitamin-enhanced cereals What it is: Author's factual statement
Some of these cereals provide 100 percent of the recommended daily requirement of vitamins.	What it says: Some fortified cereals give you all the vitamins you need for a day What it does: Builds on the previous point by showing how much vitamins these cereals can provide What it is: Author's factual claim Visualization: If \(\mathrm{daily\ vitamin\ need} = 100\%\), some cereals provide exactly \(100\%\)
Nevertheless, a well-balanced breakfast, including a variety of foods, is a better source of those vitamins than are such fortified breakfast cereals alone.	What it says: Even though cereals can give \(100\%\) vitamins, eating different breakfast foods together is still better than just eating fortified cereal What it does: Contradicts what we might expect from the previous facts - presents the main argument What it is: Author's main conclusion Visualization: \(\mathrm{Varied\ breakfast\ foods} > 100\%\ \mathrm{fortified\ cereal}\) (despite cereal meeting daily needs)

Argument Flow:

The argument starts by acknowledging that fortified cereals can provide significant vitamin content (even \(100\%\) of daily needs), but then argues against what seems logical - that a varied breakfast is still better than relying on these vitamin-complete cereals alone.

Main Conclusion:

A well-balanced breakfast with different foods is a better source of vitamins than fortified breakfast cereals alone, even when those cereals provide \(100\%\) of daily vitamin requirements.

Logical Structure:

This is a 'despite the evidence' argument structure. The author presents facts that seem to support one position (fortified cereals are vitamin-complete) but then argues for the opposite conclusion (varied foods are still better). The logic relies on unstated reasons why variety beats fortification - we need to find what supports this counterintuitive claim.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Strengthen - We need to find information that makes the conclusion more believable. The conclusion is that a well-balanced breakfast with variety is better than fortified cereals alone for getting vitamins.

Precision of Claims

The argument makes specific claims about vitamin content (\(100\%\) of daily requirements) and creates a comparison between two vitamin sources: fortified cereals alone vs. varied breakfast foods.

Strategy

Since we're strengthening, we need to find reasons why a varied breakfast would actually be superior to fortified cereals, even though those cereals provide \(100\%\) of vitamin needs. We should look for advantages that variety offers or disadvantages that fortified cereals have.

Answer Choices Explained

In many foods, the natural combination of vitamins with other nutrients makes those vitamins more usable by the body than are vitamins added in vitamin supplements.

This directly strengthens the argument by providing a scientific reason why varied foods would be superior to fortified cereals. If natural vitamin combinations are more usable by the body than artificial supplements, then even though fortified cereals might provide \(100\%\) of vitamin requirements on paper, the body actually gets more benefit from the natural vitamins in varied foods. This explains why variety beats fortification and strongly supports the conclusion.

People who regularly eat cereals fortified with vitamin supplements sometimes neglect to eat the foods in which the vitamins occur naturally.

This describes a behavioral consequence but doesn't strengthen the core argument about which source is better. The argument isn't claiming that people make poor choices - it's claiming that varied breakfasts are inherently better vitamin sources. Whether people neglect natural foods doesn't explain why varied foods would be superior to fortified cereals.

Foods often must be fortified with vitamin supplements because naturally occurring vitamins are removed during processing.

This explains why fortification happens but doesn't support the conclusion that varied foods are better. Knowing that processing removes natural vitamins doesn't tell us anything about whether a varied breakfast would be superior to fortified cereals that have had those vitamins added back.

Unprocessed cereals are naturally high in several of the vitamins that are usually added to fortified breakfast cereals.

This provides information about unprocessed cereals, but the argument is comparing fortified cereals to varied breakfast foods, not processed versus unprocessed cereals. This doesn't help us understand why a varied breakfast would be better than fortified cereals.

Cereals containing vitamin supplements are no harder to digest than similar cereals without added vitamins.

This addresses digestibility but doesn't relate to the vitamin absorption or effectiveness issue that would explain why varied foods are better vitamin sources. The argument isn't about digestion difficulty - it's about which option provides better vitamin benefits.

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