Ensuring that children consume less sugar is among the most effective

Question

Ensuring that children consume less sugar is among the most effective ways to curb childhood obesity. Recently, with this goal in mind, school officials have begun to replace high calorie sugary drinks in school vending machines with bottled water, unsweetened fruit juices, and sugar free sodas. Since students spend so much time in school, officials reason that removing access to sugary drinks during school hours will cause a dramatic reduction in the intake of sugar.

Which of the following, if true, most undermines the school officials’ plan?

(A) Unsweetened fruit juices contain more sugar than does bottled water. 
 
(B) Many students have access to sugary drinks both before and after school. 
 
(C) Sugar free sodas contain artificial sweeteners that some medical officials link to headaches and other health concerns. 
 
(D) Sugary snack foods comprise the majority of sales in school vending machines. 
 
(E) The average school-aged child consumes two twenty-ounce sugary drinks every day.

LakerFan24 · Accepted Answer

Ensuring that children consume less sugar is among the most effective ways to curb childhood obesity. Recently, with this goal in mind, school officials have begun to replace high calorie sugary drinks in school vending machines with bottled water, unsweetened fruit juices, and sugar free sodas. Since students spend so much time in school, officials reason that removing access to sugary drinks during school hours will cause a dramatic reduction in the intake of sugar. <-- CONCLUSION

Which of the following, if true, most undermines the school officials’ plan?

(A) Unsweetened fruit juices contain more sugar than does bottled water.
- who cares about differences between unsweetened fruit juices and bottled water? both less caloric than sugary drinks

(B) Many students have access to sugary drinks both before and after school.
- "before and after" school is IRRELEVANT to our conclusion (specifies DURING SCHOOL HOURS)

(C) Sugar free sodas contain artificial sweeteners that some medical officials link to headaches and other health concerns.
- out of scope. who cares about what (other) health concerns sugar free sodas lead to?

(D) Sugary snack foods comprise the majority of sales in school vending machines.
- correct as is

(E) The average school-aged child consumes two twenty-ounce sugary drinks every day.
- how does this relate to the removal of access to sugary drinks during school hours?

Kudos please if you find this helpful

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

In this question, we need to weaken the argument in the premise

A- Unsweetened fruit juices contain more sugar than does bottled water.
Not relevant. We have to compare unsweetened juice with the sugary drinks
B- Many students have access to sugary drinks both before and after school.
This would have been the case before the decision of replacement too. The time in consideration here is the time spent in the school.
C- Sugar free sodas contain artificial sweeteners that some medical officials link to headaches and other health concerns.
Irrelevant, we are concerned about the problem of obesity here
D- Sugary snack foods comprise the majority of sales in school vending machines.
This hits the argument directly as it implies there will not be much effect by replacing the drinks. The major portion of sugar goes through snacks.
E- The average school-aged child consumes two twenty-ounce sugary drinks every day. 
Irrelevant.

bigfernhead · Answer

I picked B because it directly targets and weakens the conclusion.

Conclusion: Since students spend so much time in school, officials reason that removing access to sugary drinks during school hours will cause a dramatic reduction in the intake of sugar.

B) Many students have access to sugary drinks both before and after school.

D is also a good answer, but it doesn't address as well the claim that "students intake sugar is high because students spend so much time in school"

Takers?

icandy · Answer

Removing access to sugary drinks during school hours will cause a dramatic reduction in the intake of sugar.

Yes B weakens it, but look at D Majority of the stuff sold from VM is sugar based snacks and not the drinks. So students will keep buying the sugar based snacks and the non sugar drinks in atleast 51:49 ratio and that will NOT result in dramatic decrease.

abhilashsinghme · Answer

What about sugary foods do comprise the majority of sales but the buyers could be anyone ? It might be the school staff as well. So IMO the answer should be B.

Sent from my iPad using GMAT Club Forum

passivebit · Answer

Option D says the majority of sold food is the sugary snack but it does not mean that the snacks are having more sugar than sugary liquids. Their intake may or may not maintain the level of sugar taken in by children in the absence of sugary liquids, which were banned. So this statement may or may not undermine the actual plan. 
Can you please explain how this line of thought is wrong?

dabaobao · Answer

Official Solution (Credit: Manhattan Prep)

The argument explains that school officials plan to limit the sugar intake of students in school by replacing sugary drinks with less sugary drinks in school vending machines. To undermine this plan, the correct answer must demonstrate that that the consumption of sugar by students will not be dramatically reduced.

(A) A comparison between unsweetened fruit juices and bottled water is not relevant, as these are both less sugary alternatives to the high calorie sugary drinks.

(B) The intention of the school officials’ plan is to limit the intake of sugar by students. Access to sugary drinks outside of school is certainly a factor in students' total sugar intake. However, the possibility that students might consume sugar elsewhere fails to undermine the school officials’ plan to restrict access to sugary drinks at school. As a result of the restricted access during school hours, those students who have access to sugary drinks outside of school may still consume less sugar than they otherwise would.

(C) The fact that certain alternatives to the sugary drinks contain ingredients that cause health concerns is irrelevant to the argument. Students would still be consuming less sugar.

(D) CORRECT. If most of the sugar that students consume in school comes from snack foods rather than drinks, replacing the drinks with healthier alternatives will do little to curb the intake of sugar.

(E) This statistic is not directly relevant to the argument, since it is unclear whether these drinks are consumed at school. If the drinks were consumed at school, this answer choice would strengthen rather than undermine the school officials’ plan.

prabsahi · Answer

Here is my take at it.
"Conclusion is ..Replacing the vending machines contets with sugar free drinks as alternative will lead to less sugar consumption and so will lead to reduced obesity. 
Goal of wekaner :  x CAUSES y ..Here option d DOES X doesn’t cause Y..means what if the max sales and the product that most students consume from vending machines is not these sugary drinks but SUGARY SNACKS..so the whole against which the argument hinges ...that is reducing sugary drinks will lead to reduced obesity falls..."

dave13 · Answer

EASY

Ensuring that children consume less sugar is among the most effective ways to curb childhood obesity. Recently, with this goal in mind, school officials have begun to replace high calorie sugary drinks in school vending machines with bottled water, unsweetened fruit juices, and sugar free sodas. Since students spend so much time in school, officials reason that removing access to sugary drinks during school hours will cause a dramatic reduction in the intake of sugar. <-- CONCLUSION

Which of the following, if true, most undermines the school officials’ plan?

(A) Unsweetened fruit juices contain more sugar than does bottled water.
- who cares about differences between unsweetened fruit juices and bottled water? both less caloric than sugary drinks

(B) Many students have access to sugary drinks both before and after school.
- "before and after" school is IRRELEVANT to our conclusion (specifies DURING SCHOOL HOURS)

(C) Sugar free sodas contain artificial sweeteners that some medical officials link to headaches and other health concerns.
- out of scope. who cares about what (other) health concerns sugar free sodas lead to?

(D) Sugary snack foods comprise the majority of sales in school vending machines.
- correct as is

(E) The average school-aged child consumes two twenty-ounce sugary drinks every day.
- how does this relate to the removal of access to sugary drinks during school hours?

Kudos please if you find this helpful

dcummins · Answer

The argument is more concerned with the reduction of sugar intake during school hours.

Children always have access to sugar before and after school, but this doesn't negate the fact the school can still aim to reduce sugar intake at school.

D however, does negate this as it invalidates the assumption made by the school - that most of the sugar consumed is from sugary drinks bought from vending machines.

Actually, no, its from sugary food.

Bish0p · Answer

Plan: removing access to sugary from school
Goal: less sugar = less obesity

Which of the following, if true, most undermines the school officials’ plan?

(A) Unsweetened fruit juices contain more sugar than does bottled water. -> No relevant

(B) Many students have access to sugary drinks both before and after school. -> Relevant; but since we already know that Children spent most of the time in school, there usage of sugar will decline.

(C) Sugar free sodas contain artificial sweeteners that some medical officials link to headaches and other health concerns. -> No relevant

(D) Sugary snack foods comprise the majority of sales in school vending machines. -> Relevant

(E) The average school-aged child consumes two twenty-ounce sugary drinks every day. -> No relevant

dhairya18 · Answer

CONCLUSION: Removing access to sugary drinks during school hours will cause a dramatic reduction in total sugar intake.

LINE OF REASONING:
Cause-Effect: Removing Sugary Beverages -> Dramatic Reduction in Overall Sugar Intake
Comparison: Sugary Drink Consumption = Primary Component of In-School Sugar Intake

CORE ASSUMPTION: Sugary beverages are the primary source of sugar that students consume from the school vending environment.

WEAKENING APPROACH: Show that another dominant source of sugar is available in the school machines, meaning that removing drinks won't cause a massive drop in total sugar intake.

OPTION ANALYSIS:
(A) Incorrect. Comparing juice to water is irrelevant; both are still an improvement over the original high-sugar sodas.
(B) Incorrect. Students having access to drinks before and after school is a constant factor that existed before the change. It doesn't prove that removing them during school hours will fail to lower their overall intake.
(C) Incorrect. Side effects of artificial sweeteners are out of scope for a plan focused strictly on lowering sugar to prevent obesity.
(D) Correct. This breaks the causal link. If sugary snacks make up the majority of sales in the vending machines, then snacks are the main source of the students' sugar intake at school. Swapping out the drinks will leave the biggest source of sugar completely untouched, failing to create a dramatic reduction in total sugar consumption.
(E) Incorrect. Provides a general baseline statistic but does not show whether this specific school intervention will succeed or fail.

Ensuring that children consume less sugar is among the most effective

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Ensuring that children consume less sugar is among the most effective

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