Bunuel wrote:
Many of the convenience foods on the market today, like dry cereals, have less nutrients than natural foods, which were dominant a decade or two ago. Many nutritionists claim that dry cereal gives less nourishment than natural foods like eggs or bacon. Opponents of nutritionists' views state that examination of grade-school students show less nutritional deficiency than in their parents' time.
Which of the following, if true, would tend to strengthen the opponents' view?
(A) Grade school children reported eating no breakfast at all.
(B) Fewer convenience foods were available to the parents.
(C) Adults claim to eat convenience foods as well as natural foods.
(D) Convenience foods can be digested just as quickly as natural foods.
(E) Consumers are not likely to sacrifice convenience for nutrition.
A. This would weaken the opponents' view because if grade school children are not eating breakfast at all, it would not support the claim that dry cereals, a type of convenience food, contribute to less nutritional deficiency.
B. This strengthens the opponents' view by suggesting that despite having less access to convenience foods in the past, the parents' generation showed more nutritional deficiency, which implies that convenience foods might not be as nutritionally deficient as some suggest.
C. This option does not strengthen the opponents' view as it does not directly connect the nutritional health of adults to the consumption of convenience foods.
D. This statement is irrelevant to the argument. The speed of digestion does not necessarily correlate with nutritional value.
E. This statement does not strengthen the opponents' view because it does not provide any evidence to refute the nutritionists' claim about the nutritional deficiency of convenience foods.
Therefore, the best answer choice is B.