People native to islands far from major land masses usually subsist ma

Question

People native to islands far from major land masses usually subsist mainly on fish and vegetables, and eat very little red meat. Few of them develop heart disease, and their risk for heart disease does not increase as they get older, unlike people living in less isolated countries. These islanders do often develop heart disease if they move to cities and begin eating diets high in red meat. However, these facts do not prove red meat is the reason they develop heart disease in these instances because __________.    1 
 Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

A. such islanders might be genetically predisposed to not contract heart disease

B. people who eat high amounts of red meat in cities of countries that are not isolated tend to develop heart disease

C. some people live in cities of countries that are not isolated and do not develop heart disease

D. other aspects of diet are altered when islanders move to cities such as these

E. red meat provides iron, which is essential for health

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

This statement explains the apparent contradiction in the passage by introducing another explanation for the fact that these people tend to develop heart disease—other dietary changes. 
 
  Answer: D

Syntaxnomad · Answer

Why not E. 
describing red meat as a healthy supplement ... satistisfies the blank nearly??

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hi Syntaxnomad

Islanders are (isolated) so they eat fish/veg, with little red meat mean low heart disease, no increase with age. If they move to cities and eat more red meat it means they often develop heart disease. But this doesn’t prove red meat is the cause because __________.

We need a reason that breaks the causal link between red meat and heart disease in this situation. So  E  irrelevant to heart disease causation. On the other hand,  choice D  is correct because it introduces an alternative explanation (other dietary changes) that could be responsible for the increased heart disease, thus weakening the claim that red meat is the proven cause.

People native to islands far from major land masses usually subsist ma

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