QUESTION TEXT: Few, if any, carbonated beverages contain calcium…
QUESTION TYPE: Weaken
CONCLUSION: The higher incidence of broken bones in teenagers who consume carbonated beverages with caffeine is probably due primarily to caffeine consumption.
REASONING: Few carbonated beverages contain calcium, but some very popular ones contain lots of caffeine. Caffeine causes people to excrete more calcium, and a calcium deficiency can make bones more brittle. Teenagers who drink drink large amounts of caffeinated beverages containing caffeine tend to suffer more broken bones.
ANALYSIS: This argument seems to link all its concepts together. Teenagers who consume carbonated beverages containing caffeine tend to break bones more. Caffeine can cause a decrease in calcium, which causes brittle bones, so that’s probably what causes the higher rate of broken bones.
This is a correlation/causation error, but interestingly it’s only a minor one. We actually do know that caffeine intake probably makes your bones more brittle. The problem here is that the author concludes that this is the primary cause of the higher bone-breaking rate. The correct answer will weaken this by providing a more likely explanation.
___________
- CORRECT. What’s more likely to make bones brittle, caffeine consumption reducing calcium, or just consuming less calcium in the first place? This answer provides a much more likely explanation, meaning that the carbonated beverages are probably not the primary cause.
- This is probably true, but it doesn’t provide an alternate way to explain the difference between caffeine-drinking teens and other teens.
- Similar to B – this might be true, but still doesn’t explain the discrepancy. The simplest explanation is still the caffeine.
- This doesn’t change the argument at all. We still have no suggestions other than caffeine to explain the increase in bone-breaking.
- This might be true, but doesn’t explain why teens consuming caffeine would break bones more often. See B and C.
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