Bone depletion -- decreases in the thickness, density

Question

Bone depletion -- decreases in the thickness, density, and strength of bones -- tends to occur as humans age. The bones of some individuals seem to become thicker, denser, and stronger with regular weight-bearing exercise, such as weight lifting, and with the intake of dietary calcium.

Which of the following can be correctly inferred from the statements above?

A. Individuals who eat sufficient calcium run no risk of bone depletion in old age.

B. Individuals who do not undertake weight-bearing exercise have a high risk of experiencing bone depletion late in life.

C. Weight-lifting and intake of dietary calcium are the most effective methods of avoiding bone depletion.

D. A program of regular weight-bearing exercise and intake of dietary calcium allows some individuals to avoid one of the deleterious effects of aging.

E. Only weight-bearing exercise is necessary to build bone thickness, density, and strength

chetan2u · Accepted Answer

hi  ShristiK ,
lets look at the two choices you are talking of...

B. Individuals who do not undertake weight-bearing exercise have a high risk of experiencing bone depletion late in life.
 this is too extreme a sentence as it involves all individual. there may be some other means natural, some other dietery supplements etc which can help in reducing ;bone depletion.. so incorrect as the Q stem does not say anything from which this can be inferred.

D. A program of regular weight-bearing exercise and intake of dietary calcium allows some individuals to avoid one of the deleterious effects of aging.
 here it says that some of the individuals may be getting benefits and the Q stem does lead to this point ..The bones of some individuals seem to become thicker, denser, and stronger with regular weight-bearing exercise, such as weight lifting, and with the intake of dietary calcium.

aditya8062 · Answer

D seems best :  A program of regular weight-bearing exercise and intake of dietary calcium allows some individuals to avoid one of the deleterious effects of aging.

amitthechosen1 · Answer

D seems to answer it best. 
B is a contender but removed it due to use to strong words .

ShristiK · Answer

Hi,

Can you please explain why option D is correct? 
According to me, we should go for option B because the risk of bone depletion reduces whereas D says we can completely avoid bone depletion which seems to be incorrect.

Thanks in advance

souvik101990 · Answer

Inference questions - whether in CR or RC - are really asking you "what MUST be true?" When you're looking for a must-be-true, you can avoid any answer choices that are too extreme, as other posters have mentioned.

A. Individuals who eat sufficient calcium run no risk of bone depletion in old age. 
"No risk" is way too extreme - we're only told that "some individuals" experience positive change.

B. Individuals who do not undertake weight-bearing exercise have a high risk of experiencing bone depletion late in life. 
We can't claim that they have a "high risk", just that they may have a higher risk than some individuals who do. (Note the qualifiers there)

C. Weight-lifting and intake of dietary calcium are the most effective methods of avoiding bone depletion. 
We're just told that it can be effective for some people. We have no information comparing it to other methods, so we know nothing about "most."

D. A program of regular weight-bearing exercise and intake of dietary calcium allows some individuals to avoid one of the deleterious effects of aging. 
Note the nicely mitigating language here! It's hard to disprove "some."

E. Only weight-bearing exercise is necessary to build bone thickness, density, and strength. 
There may be other necessary factors that weren't mentioned in the argument, so we can't claim it's the "only" one.

The answer is D.

Helium · Answer

The word "inferred" makes it clear that this is an Inference question.

Inference stimuli are made up of statements from which a deduction will be made. To untangle, simply read and paraphrase the statements in the stimulus. Here, bone depletion tends to occur as humans age. For some individuals, regular weight-bearing exercise and dietary calcium can make bones thicker, denser, and stronger - the opposite of bone depletion.

Usually, the answers to Inference questions are not predictable. Proceed to the choices, keeping in mind that the answer is something that must be true from the stimulus, not just something that could or might be true.

(D) is something that can be inferred from the stimulus and is therefore correct. The stimulus says that the actions described in (D) can make bones thicker, denser, and stronger. Since bone depletion - a decrease in thickness, density, and strength of bones - is an adverse effect of aging, the actions described in (D) can indeed allow some people to avoid a deleterious effect of aging.

(A) can be eliminated because of its extreme language: "no risk." The stimulus merely said that the bones of "some" people seem to not experience depletion.

(B) is wrong because the stimulus gives no reason to believe that people who don't exercise have a high risk of bone depletion. First of all, they might take dietary calcium and do other things not mentioned in the stimulus that prevent bone depletion. Second, the stimulus says that bone depletion "tends" to occur as humans age. One might expect, at most, that people who don't exercise would have an average risk of experiencing bone depletion, not a "high risk."

(C) is incorrect because one cannot determine from the stimulus whether the methods mentioned are the most effective ways to avoid bone depletion. The stimulus only mentions these two methods, but there could very well be a more effective way!

(E)'s extreme language makes it incorrect. It can't be said from the stimulus that only weight-bearing exercise is necessary to build bone thickness, etc.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Bone depletion -- decreases in the thickness, density

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Bone depletion -- decreases in the thickness, density

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