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505-555 (Easy)|   Resolve Paradox|                        
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findingmyself
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From 1900 until the 1930s, pellagra, a disease later discovered to res 18 Jun 2025, 13:13
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Hi chetan2u,


How can we assume that vegetables and fruits can contain niacin? (Though this is an easy bet and an assumption)

The same amount of assumption can be that when prices were falling, corn has been treated differently which helped in niacin absorption.

chetan2u
From 1900 until the 1930s, pellagra, a disease later discovered to result from a deficiency of the vitamin niacin, was common among poor cotton farmers in the United States whose diet consisted mostly of corn, the least costly food they could buy. Corn does not contain niacin in usable form. Curiously, during the Depression of the early 1930s, when cotton's price collapsed and cotton farmers’ income declined, the incidence of pellagra among those farmers also declined.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the decline in the incidence of pellagra?

(A) When growing a cash crop could not generate adequate income, poor farmers in the United States responded by planting their land with vegetables and fruits for their own consumption.
Correct...
Since the farmers changed their diet, the changes occured.

(B) People whose diets consist largely of corn often suffer from protein deficiency as well as niacin deficiency.
Out of scope

(C) Until the discovery of pellagra's link with niacin, it was widely believed that the disease was an infection that could be transmitted from person to person.
Again, not close by. Out of scope

(D) Effective treatment for pellagra became available once its link with niacin was established.
we are not talking of treatment but drop in cases

(E) In parts of Mexico, where people subsisted on corn but pellagra was uncommon, corn was typically processed with alkaline substances, which make the niacin in the corn absorbable.
we are not talking of Mexico. We cannot relate what happened there with USA

A­
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Jaival
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From 1900 until the 1930s, pellagra, a disease later discovered to res 04 Sep 2025, 01:13
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But where does it say that other veggies have niacin, or even have niacin that can be digested.
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DavidTutorexamPAL
The answer is A.

We can find this answer using the

Precise

strategy, since the question gives us enough information to figure out what we are looking for.
We are told that cotton farmers consumed corn, which doesn't have enough Niacin, and thus suffered from pellagra. However, when they had less money, they stuffed suffering. What could explain this? Well, it follows from less pellagra that they consumed less corn (since this is what caused it), and the change in income could explain this. So, the farmers probably consumed less corn, and consumed something cheaper with more Niacin. This is exactly what (A) tells us: When growing a cash crop could not generate adequate income, poor farmers in the United States responded by planting their land with vegetables and fruits for their own consumption.
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From 1900 until the 1930s, pellagra, a disease later discovered to res 23 Sep 2025, 14:01
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Jaival
But where does it say that other veggies have niacin, or even have niacin that can be digested.

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We aren't asked to find an answer choice that DEFINITELY explains the decline. Instead, we're just looking for the choice that MOST helps to explain the decline in the incidence of pellagra.

So process of elimination is key. None of the other answer choices provide a possible explanation, while (A) certainly does. The diet of those farmers consisted MOSTLY of corn, which does not contain niacin in usable form. This explains why pellagra was common among that group. Then, two things happened:

1) Those farmers started planting and eating other vegetables and fruits.

Pellagra became less common among that group.

Coincidence? Perhaps, but it is certainly very likely that (A) explains what happens. Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins. By eating more fruits and vegetables, those farmers likely consumed a greater quantity and variety of vitamins, and that could certainly explain why niacin deficiency became less prevalent.

Sure, it's possible that this is all a coincidence and that (A) is not in fact the explanation. Regardless, (A) helps explains what happened while the other choices do not, so it is definitely the best option.
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