Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the

Question

Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the body can absorb. Pellagra is a disease that results from niacin deficiency. When maize was introduced into southern Europe from the Americas in the eighteenth century, it quickly became a dietary staple, and many Europeans who came to subsist primarily on maize developed pellagra. 
Pellagra was virtually unknown at that time in the Americas, however, even among people who subsisted primarily on maize.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the contrasting incidence of pellagra described above?

A. Once introduced into southern Europe, maize became popular with landowners because of its high yields relative to other cereal crops.
B. Maize grown in the Americas contained more niacin than maize grown in Europe did.
C. Traditional ways of preparing maize in the Americas convert maize's niacin into a nutritionally useful form.
D. In southern Europe many of the people who consumed maize also ate niacin-rich foods.
E. Before 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

actionpak · Accepted Answer

It is much easier to analyze the paradox once you consider each sentence of the argument one-by-one.

"Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the body can absorb."
 If you map this out... Maize --> Niacin (that cannot be absorbed by humans)

"Pellagra is a disease that results from niacin deficiency."
 Pellagra --> Not enough Niacin in the body
If you think about this sentence in the context of the preceding sentence, you can think probably come to the conclusion that people who eat Maize may not prevent the onset of Pellagra because Niacin cannot be absorbed by the human body.

"When maize was introduced into southern Europe from the Americas in the eighteenth century, it quickly became a dietary staple, and many Europeans who came to subsist primarily on maize developed Pellagra." 
This sentence tells us that many Southern Europeans started to eat maize widely from the 18th century, and started to develop Pellagra! This means that even though Southern Europeans were ingesting more Niacin, it did nothing to prevent Pellagra.
 
"Pellagra was virtually unknown at that time in the Americas, however, even among people who subsisted primarily on maize." 
This sentence contains our paradox. Americans have been eating maize all the time but did not know about Pellagra (i.e., they did not develop the disease). This leads us to wonder what possibly the Americans did with their maize so that they were able to absorb more Niacin. Once we figure this out, we can see how they were able to prevent contracting Pellagra.

Now, lets look at the answer choices:

A. Once introduced into southern Europe, maize became popular with landowners because of its high yields relative to other cereal crops.
 This helps explain why maize became popular but really does not explain how Americans were able to not develop Pellagra even though they consumed maize for quite some time.

B. Maize grown in the Americas contained more niacin than maize grown in Europe did. 
 One may think how this can help resolve the paradox (i.e., more niacin --> more chances to prevent Pellagra). However, B cannot be the answer because it does nothing to show how the relationship set up in the first sentence of the argument (i.e., the niacin in maize cannot be absorbed by humans) is not true for the Americans.

C. Traditional ways of preparing maize in the Americas convert maize’s niacin into a nutritionally useful form.
 This definitely helps explain how Americans are able to absorb niacin unlike the Southern Europeans. Traditional maize is converted into a form where niacin is useful for the body.
 
D. In southern Europe many of the people who consumed maize also ate niacin-rich foods.
 This answer choice goes against what the argument states. If Southern Europeans ate other niacin-rich foods, they should have been able to prevent some developments of Pellagra.

E. Before 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. 
This answer choice is irrelevant to assessing the argument (how does Pellagra transferring from one person to person help explain why Americans did not develop Pellagra?).

Please let me know if you need additional help
Cheers

jpv · Answer

(C)

Americans subsisted on Maize, still Pellagra was not common.
Europeans subsisted on Maize, but Pellagra was common.

Stem also says..
Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the body can absorb.

Definitely there was something different in the way they were eating/preparing Maize.

(C) corectly fills this gap.

gixxer1000 · Answer

I go with C.

The paradox is that in the Americas maize is a primary staple and although the niacin is supposedly not absorbed by the body they do not develop Pellagra which results from a deficiency of niacin. When maize is introduced to Europe as a primary staple they do develop Pellagra.

So to resolve the paradox we must figure a way in which people in the Americas are somehow getting a sufficient amount of niacin.

Answer C solves this by stating that the way maize is cooked in the Americas allows the niacin to be usefull.

aimecon · Answer

A. Once introduced into southern Europe, maize became popular with landowners
because of its high yields relative to other cereal crops.  - Conclusion has to do with the contrast between Europe and the Americas - Eliminated 
B. Maize grown in the Americas contained more niacin than maize grown in Europe
did.  - Conclusion has to do with niacin absorption difference - Eliminated 
C. Traditional ways of preparing maize in the Americas convert maize's niacin into a
nutritionally useful form.  - One of the logical reasons for the difference in niacin absorption - Keep 
D. In southern Europe many of the people who consumed maize also ate niacin-rich
foods.  - Contradictory with conclusion - Eliminated 
E. Before 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.  - Irrelevant to conclusion, conclusion is not about how pellagra is transmitted - Eliminated

hanumayamma · Answer

Given:Maize contains vitamin niacin, whose deficiency results in Pellagra. Even after taking the dietary supplements, Europeans developed this disease and Americans not. The best way to explain this discrepancy is introduce information that shows inability of Europeans food to absorb Maize.

A. Once introduced into southern Europe, maize became popular with landowners
because of its high yields relative to other cereal crops. But this has no clue to the discrepancy – eliminate it ]

B. Maize grown in the Americas contained more niacin than maize grown in Europe
did. But this won’t explain disease discrepancy – eliminate it ]

C. Traditional ways of preparing maize in the Americas convert maize's niacin into a
nutritionally useful form.  Hold it ]

D. In southern Europe many of the people who consumed maize also ate niacin-rich
foods. If this were true, Europeans wouldn't have issue – eliminate it ]

E. Before 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. Has no information that explains discrepancy – eliminate it ]

Answer: C

amirfarzam82 · Answer

A. Once introduced into southern Europe, maize became popular with landowners
because of its high yields relative to other cereal crops.  popularity not result in consumption of Maize(incorrect)

B. Maize grown in the Americas contained more niacin than maize grown in Europe
did.  irrelevant comparison(incorrect)

C. Traditional ways of preparing maize in the Americas convert maize's niacin into a
nutritionally useful form.  right answer

D. In southern Europe many of the people who consumed maize also ate niacin-rich
foods.  only say about europe(incorrect)

E. Before 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.  irrelevant(incorrect)

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hello!
We like to call these questions "resolve the paradox" questions.
Typically the stimulus will discuss an apparent paradox (a scenario where the X causes / leads to the converse of what SHOULD have happened). You are expected to pick an option that explains how this inconsistency could have happened.

In this questions the inconsistency is that In Europe when Maize became staple - Pellagra was caused.
But in Americas, in which Maize is also a staple - pellagra is unknown (no cases of pellagra).

We also know that Maize doesn't have niacin in a form that the body can absorb.
The correct answer will explain why pellagra wasn't caused in Americas while it was caused in Europe.

Let's look at the options:

A. Talks about why Maize became popular in Europe - doesn't help explain the inconsistency. - ELIMINATE
B. We know that niacin in Maize is in a form that cannot be absorbed by the body, that there is more niacin has no relevance. - ELIMINATE
C. YES - this could explain why americas could have avoided niacin deficiency.
D. This doesn't help - if Europeans ate niacin rich food apart from Maize - why then did they get pellagra? ELIMINATE
E. Early BELIEF of what caused pellagra has no bearing on why the inconsistency exists - ELIMINATE

Hope that helps!

Ajeeth Peo
Verbal Trainer - CrackVerbal

Ajeeth Peo Verbal Trainer - CrackVerbal

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the body can absorb. Pellagra is a disease that results from niacin deficiency. When maize was introduced into southern Europe from the Americas in the eighteenth century, it quickly became a dietary staple, and many Europeans who came to subsist primarily on maize developed pellagra.
Pellagra was virtually unknown at that time in the Americas, however, even among people who subsisted primarily on maize.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the contrasting incidence of pellagra described above?

A. Once introduced into southern Europe, maize became popular with landowners because of its high yields relative to other cereal crops.
B. Maize grown in the Americas contained more niacin than maize grown in Europe did.
C. Traditional ways of preparing maize in the Americas convert maize's niacin into a nutritionally useful form.
D. In southern Europe many of the people who consumed maize also ate niacin-rich foods.
E. Before 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

Interesting passage. We're told about a certain crop that contains a vitamin in a form humans can't absorb. That there is a disease one can get as a result of deficiency of this vitamin. That when this crop was introduced to a certain area in the past, it became a dietary staple and a lot of the people who primarily subsisted on it got this disease... but that the disease was pretty much non-existent at the time in the area the crop was taken from - including among people who used to subsist primarily on this crop.

We're basically asked to explain why there is a difference in the incidence of this disease between the two areas (i.e. the Americas and southern Europe).

(A) Once introduced into southern Europe, maize became popular with landowners because of its high yields relative to other cereal crops.

Not what we're looking for. We're looking for a reason why there is a difference in why one area has more of this disease than the other.

(B) Maize grown in the Americas contained more niacin than maize grown in Europe did.

This may seem interesting but it doesn't explain why the disease may occur differently in one area. Here, it doesn't matter how much niacin is in maize if, based on the passage, it is not in a form that can be absorbed by humans. Even if you consumed maize in America that, for example, has twice as much niacin, it would still be unusable.

(C) Traditional ways of preparing maize in the Americas convert maize's niacin into a nutritionally useful form.

This is the answer. It neatly explains how - although maize in both areas contained niacin in a form that is unusable - in one of the areas (the Americas), the crop was prepared in a way that made the niacin useful. This would explain why people in the Americas who primarily subsisted on maize did not get the disease Pellegra.

(D) In southern Europe many of the people who consumed maize also ate niacin-rich foods.

Not what we're looking for. If anything, this answer choice sort of goes against what would make sense. We're told that people in southern Europe who subsisted primarily on maize developed Pellegra. If these people were also eating foods that were niacin-rich (assuming in a usable form), it wouldn't make sense for many of them to develop Pellagra (by being deficient in the vitamin niacin).

(E) Before 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

Nope. This doesn't do a lot in terms of explaining why there would be a difference in the disease occurring more in one area than the other with the info in the passage.

A_Nishith · Answer

(C)

Americans subsisted on Maize, still Pellagra was not common.
Europeans subsisted on Maize, but Pellagra was common.

Stem also says..
Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the body can absorb.

Definitely there was something different in the way they were eating/preparing Maize.

(C) corectly fills this gap.

Answer: C

Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the

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Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the

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