One food writer wrote that reducing the amount of animal products in

(A) Increasing the amount of vegetables and grains in one's diet can contribute to better health.
(B) There will be no corresponding increase in the amount of dairy products in the diets of those who are eliminating meat.
(C) Most food writers believe that some amount of animal products is necessary to a health diet.
(D) Not all healthy lifestyles require a vegetarian diet.
(E) Many people who do not eat animal products make decisions for health reasons.

+1 : B

We need to assume that no alternate animal product is being consumed by people who have stopped eating meat to make the conclusion valid.

On the other hand, we don't know from the passage that what other why other people made decisions to avoid animal products. So E can't be assumed IMO.

In my opinion, this is a horrible question and shouldn't even be here.
The question asks for the assumption of the argument. Honestly, I don't even think this is an argument. "Based on this claim, ..." may be considered to be a conclusion yes, but that looks like a fact to me.
So,
If "Based on ..." is considered a conclusion, then all of the options here are incorrect.
Considering a case when the conclusion is : Based on this claim, some people are completely eliminating meat from their diets in order to be healthier.

The only assumption I can see is "People who stopped eating meat read the same article which the author read".
What these people have decided to do is an action that is being reported by the author. How can the assumption of whether these people increase the amount of dairy or not, be the author's assumption?

GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo nightblade354 What am I missing here ?

conclusion : the amount of animal products in one's diet can contribute to better health and well-being.

negate options ;
B There will be no corresponding increase in the amount of dairy products in the diets of those who are eliminating meat.
negated option There will be corresponding increase in the amount of dairy products in the diets of those who are eliminating meat.
this weakens the conclusion
option B is correct

This is a good lesson: There can be more than one necessary assumption in a question. The obvious assumption is what you stated, but this doesn't mean this is our only answer. To be fair, I only stick to OG and LSAT questions, so maybe do that moving forward. But think about the answer: If the people who did eliminate meat in order to be healthier, based on the article, which advocates for limiting intake, increase animal products elsewhere, then you disproved the statement.

The argument may not be the best worded and could have been better, but as we are looking for the best answer, we can stick to B.


Now, 'based on this claim' modifies 'some people'. Thus, these people are restricting intake of meat based on the claim of food writer, so "People who stopped eating meat read the same article which the author read" is not an assumption but already stated in the argument.


These people have removed meat from their diet FOR health reasons, and have based it on the food writers claim. But the food writers claim is to do with reducing intake of all the animal products.

Now we look for the best answer and B stands out.
So in case they think the claim to be true and want to amend their diet accordingly, they have to ensure that they are not increasing intake of other animal products.

Princeton Review Explanation:

Answer: (B)

The argument states that some people are eliminating meat from their diets because reducing the amount of animal products in one's diet can lead to better health. Meat is only one type of animal product, however. The argument assumes that by eliminating meat, the people are reducing the total amount of animal products in their diets.

Choice (A) addresses increasing the amount of vegetables and grains, but the argument just deals with animal products.

Choice (B) correctly addresses the people who are eliminating meat and states that those people are not increasing their consumption of dairy, which is another instance of using animal products. Thus, these people are actually reducing the amount of animal products in their diets.

Choice (C) addresses most food writers, who are irrelevant to this argument.

Choice (D) addresses health lifestyles, which are irrelevant to this particular argument.

Choice (E) addresses the reasons behind not eating animal products, which is irrelevant to the argument.

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