Nutritionist: Obesity is becoming a very serious problem in this count

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Overview:
This question asks students to select the statement that most seriously undermines the nutritionist’s claims that his method of applying diet and exercise alone helped patients struggling with obesity to lose weight and that this method of losing weight is the best method. The student must consider each answer choice in the context of what the nutritionist says in order to determine which answer is most correct.

The Correct Answer:
B The nutritionist’s statement that a healthy, balanced diet and the incorporation of daily exercise is strongly undermined by the information that significant factors in weight loss include physical makeup and metabolism, and that the nutritionist worked only with adults with very similar physical makeups and metabolisms. This information throws into question whether the nutritionist’s methods would work for adults with different physical makeups and metabolism, thereby undermining the claim the nutritionist’s method for weight loss is the best method. Therefore, answer choice (B) is the correct answer.

The Incorrect Answers:
A Answer choice (A), although tempting, is ultimately irrelevant to the nutritionist’s direct claims about the best method for weight loss; answer A is considered an ad hominem claim, that is, a claim directed about a person making an argument rather than about the merits of the argument itself. Simply because the nutritionist receives funding from the government does not mean that the nutritionist’s study is biased. Nothing in the passage suggests that it is. Answer choice (A) is not correct.

C Like answer choice (A), answer choice (C) is interesting but does nothing to undermine the nutritionist’s claims. It is not surprising to learn that another nutritionist disagrees with him, but disagreement with a colleague does not necessarily undermine his test results. Answer choice (C), therefore, is incorrect.

D Far from undermining the test results and the nutritionist’s claims, answer choice (D) actually supports them. This is because different methods of exercise might have different results regarding weight loss. Thus answer choice (D) can be eliminated at once.

E The statement about the number of patients provides further information about how the nutritionist carried out his test. However, it does not necessarily undermine the results. Eighty patients could conceivably provide the nutritionist with a large enough study group to derive useful results, so this choice does not necessarily undermine his claims. Answer choice (E) is incorrect.