A diet high in saturated fats increases a person's risk of developing

E for me
If consumption of wine by youngsters has declined, it would explain why, despite the overall narrowing of wine consumption b/w US/France, there is no change in the overall heart disease; the decrease of wine consumption affects only younger people who are not affected by heart diseases (only middle-aged people are affected)

Got E too. Agree with Paul's explanation. To add,

"The difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing" may mean two things - US is drinking more wine OR france is drinking less wine. ETS trap would be make us think that the first (US drinking more wine) has happened, but actually it is the second case (E).

Moreover, E, by bringing in "heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age" shows that the convergence of heart disease may happen in future, but not immediately.

My explanation

Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the lack of convergence noted above?

A. Consumption of saturated fats is related more strongly to the growth of fatty deposits on
artery walls, which reduce blood flow to the heart, than it is to heart disease directly. this doesn't tell us about why US heart disease rate is not matching up with heart disease rate of france

B. Over the past 30 years, per-capita consumption of saturated fats has remained essentially
unchanged in the United States but has increased somewhat in France. this statement suggests that heart disease rates of two countries might be going towards convergence. we need to find answer that explains why there is a lack of convergence in heart disease

C. Reports of the health benefits of red wine have led many people in the United States to drink
red wine regularly. in US,wine consumption has increased but nothing mentioned about saturated fat consumption rate increase/decrease which contributes to heart disease so this doesn't explain lack of convergence in heart rates

D. Cigarette smoking, which can also contribute to heart disease, is only slightly more common
in France than in the United States. if cigarette smoking increases somewhat in France, but doesn't tell convincingly about huge impact of heart disease due to increased smoking in France

E. Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France, and
heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age.[/quote] correct, dramatic reduction of red wine consumption among youths in France means difference in wine consumption is narrowing between two countries but there is no consumption reduction among middle age people in france who are prone to heart disease. This tells why there is a convergence on wine consumption but nothing on heart disease rate

I guess B and E are the likeable choices here.

you're looking for a reason why heart disease rates have NOT gotten closer to each other, even though the rates of red wine consumption have gotten closer to each other.

in this respect, choice (b) is actually the worst possible outcome, because it accomplishes exactly the opposite of this end -- choice (b), if true, would be another reason why the gap WOULD narrow.
i.e., you need a reason that would keep the french heart disease rates lower than the american rates, despite the other evidence; choice (b), on the other hand, is a factor that would actually push the french rate closer to the american rate -- exactly the opposite of what you actually want.

choice (e), on the other hand, is exactly the type of explanation that you are looking for: since the onset of heart disease is delayed, this explanation leads to the conclusion that, for the time being, this change in behavior on the part of young adults will have no effect; it won't start to bring the french heart disease rate closer to the corresponding american rate until those young adults reach middle age.

so should be (e)

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.

Diet high in saturated fats increases a person's risk of developing heart disease
Regular consumption of red wine reduces the risk .
Per capita consumption of saturated fats is about the same in France and US , but red wine consumption is higher in France .
Difference in red wine consumption has been decreasing , however no similar convergence in heart-disease rates has occurred.

Paradox -

A. Consumption of saturated fats is related more strongly to the growth of fatty deposits on artery walls, which reduce blood flow to the heart, than it is to heart disease directly. Irrelevant

B. Over the past 30 years, per-capita consumption of saturated fats has remained essentially unchanged in the United States but has increased somewhat in France. Irrelevant

C. Reports of the health benefits of red wine have led many people in the United States to drink red wine regularly. Does not help the resolve the paradox

D. Cigarette smoking, which can also contribute to heart disease, is only slightly more common in France than in the United States.
It does not resolve the paradox , but on the contrary does the opposite .

E. Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France, and heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age.
Correct - Consumption of red wine is declining among young adults in France but the effects will only manifest when these people are in middle age.

Answer E

Stem : Resolve paradox. Per capita consumption of wine in France is currently similar to US but heart attack less in France.

Premise 1 : Red wine reduces heart attacks.

The word to note here is per capita. So we don't know who is consuming the wine. It could be a 90 - 10 scenario where 90% of wine is consumed by 10% people.

Looking at the options, only E stands true.

So middle aged folks are drinking wine, young people are not.... This explains why even though per capita consumption of wine is similar to US, heart attacks are less

The difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing, but no similar convergence in heart-disease rates has occurred.

The narrowing difference need not be because of more consumption of Alcohol from USA. It can also be attributed to what has been mentioned in point E ( Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France ).

By this, the red wine consumption of middle age people USA has not changed much, but the middle age people in France continue their regular consumption of red wine.

Hence E is correct.

E. Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France, and heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age.

Conclusion: Difference between the consumption of red wine is decreasing but no such decline is visible in the difference of heart disease cases.
Choice E best helps to account for the lack of convergence noted in the argument. E states that the decline in the difference of the consumption of Red wine is not because people from USA have started drinking more red wine, but it is because of the decline in the consumption of red wine in France. Now, the regular consumption of wine is declining among young adults of France which means that the young adults of France are more prone to heart diseases but it is also given that heart disease doesn’t manifest itself until middle age. This means that the lack of convergence is because the decrease in difference of consumption is among people who don’t show the signs of heart disease. Hence, E is the answer.

why heart diseases are still high " this is wrong statement. Heart disease is unchanged , you should say. Heart disease in Britain is lower than in US. Red wine consumption diminished but heart disease did not increase in Britain. Still unchanged.

Round 1: eliminate all irrelevant choices:
Want I need: answers that are related to wine drinking & heart disease (in U.S. and/or France) b/c these sit at the core of the paradox.
Want I see: only C & E are relevant, and E talked about both, so E is my preferred candidate.
Round 2: use logic:
What I need: one answer that helps me understand "why heart disease rate is still higher in the U.S. than in France?"
What I see: C only worsens the paradox, b/c wine is supposed to help.
--> E it is!

BrightOutlookJenn DmitryFarber GMATNinja Why is A wrong? Tks!

Hi Will2020

This question is a paradox question - we're trying to find some explanation for the unexpected reality that a smaller difference in red-wine consumption between the US and France has NOT led to a smaller difference in heart-disease rates between the two countries. We need a game-changing new fact, something that tells us "aha! so that's why the heart disease rates are still far apart" - probably some remaining difference between the US and France that we didn't know about yet.

A tells us more about the mechanism for how saturated fats affect heart disease. But there is nothing here that changes the game to explain some difference between the countries: if this is how it works, as far as we know, it works this same way in both countries. Doesn't explain why the heart disease rates aren't closer together.

E gives us what we need - an explanation for why those rates haven't come closer together yet. The young adults in France aren't yet old enough to have an impact on the heart disease rates ... it must be all the older adults (who drank more red wine) who are driving the statistics. In other words, there is a significant lag time (like decades) between changes in red wine statistics and changes in heart disease statistics. So even if the red-wine consumption rates are coming closer together between the two countries, it will probably be decades later when the heart disease stats come together.


Does this help? Let us know.

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?


(A) Consumption of saturated fats is related more strongly to the growth of fatty deposits on artery walls, which reduce blood flow to the heart, than it is to heart disease directly.

(B) Over the past 30 years, per-capita consumption of saturated fats has remained essentially unchanged in the United States but has increased somewhat in France.

(C) Reports of the health benefits of red wine have led many people in the United States to drink red wine regularly.

(D) Cigarette smoking, which can also contribute to heart disease, is only slightly more common in France than in the United States.

(E) Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France, and heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age.[/quote]


Information given in the passage

1) Diet high in saturated fats increases risk of heart disease.

2) Regular consumption of red wine reduces the risk of heart disease.I Red wines.

3) On per ca pita basis French and Americans consume equal quantity of saturated fats

4)Despite consuming equal quantity of saturated fat,French don't succumb to heart disease.

5) The reason is that french consume more red wine than Americans do.

6) Difference in Regular consumption figures of red wine has been narrowing means either the french have reduced the consumption or the Americans have matched the level of consumption,but no converges has occurred in rate of heart disease.it means that no significant change in rate of heart disease noticed in french as well as in Americans.

we have to find a reason for this paradox

A) The given information tells us about how saturated fat disturbs the blood flow. Doesn't help much.Leave

B) the information doesn't help much rather the information forces us to think about the reason for no change in rate of heart disease despite somewhat increased consumption of saturated fat.it means the increased consumption is still insufficient to increase the rate of disease.Leave

C) the given information just tells us the reason for convergence in wine consumption. Doesn't help us to find the reason for no change in rate of disease.Leave

D) The given information tells us that how Beneficial it is consume red wine on regular basis.Leave

E) The given information tells us that why has there not been any change in rate of heart related disease.The effects of change in level of consumption of wine will reflect in future.Keep

Will go with choice E.

This question is an Explain/Resolve the Paradox type of question.

The contradiction in the passage is that the difference between France and the United States in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing but a similar convergence in heart-disease rates has not occurred.

Option A doesn’t explain why the difference in the rates of heart disease has not narrowed. So, Option A can be eliminated.

Option B provides information to show why the rates of heart disease may increase in France; these increased rates would lead to convergence not why convergence has not occurred. So, Option B can be eliminated.

The argument tells us that the difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing; we understand from this that either the consumption in the US has increased or the consumption in France has decreased. But this doesn’t explain why there is no convergence in the rates of heart disease. So, Option C can be eliminated.

Even if cigarette smoking contributes to heart disease, if it is only slightly more common in France than in the US, the information is not enough to explain why the difference in the rates of heart disease has not narrowed. The option doesn’t tell us that people in France have given up red-wine consumption and taken up smoking. So, Option D also can be eliminated.

Option E states that consumption of red-wine is reducing dramatically and that heart disease typically doesn’t manifest itself until middle age. This explains why the rates of consumption are converging and why the rates of hear disease have not converged, because all the cases of heart disease have not yet manifested themselves. Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

Option Elimination - that's the best approach here, as there can be multiple explanations to resolve the paradox here.

(A) Consumption of saturated fats is related more strongly to the growth of fatty deposits on artery walls, which reduce blood flow to the heart, than it is to heart disease directly. - Out of scope. We aren't concerned here about how saturated fats affect.

(B) Over the past 30 years, per-capita consumption of saturated fats has remained essentially unchanged in the United States but has increased somewhat in France. Worsens the paradox. Opposite of what we are looking for.

(C) Reports of the health benefits of red wine have led many people in the United States to drink red wine regularly. - We already know from the argument. Distortion.

(D) Cigarette smoking, which can also contribute to heart disease, is only slightly more common in France than in the United States. - At best, it worsens the paradox.

(E) Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France, and heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age. - it makes sense. It means the difference in regular red wine consumption has been narrowing not because the people in the US are drinking more but because the young in France are drinking less. And the effects of that will be delayed by a few decades.