#12 - It is probably not true that colic in infants is cause

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Weaken—CE. The correct answer choice is (D)

This stimulus denies the relationship between the development of colic in infants and the consumption of cow’s milk, saying that the infants’ drinking of cow’s milk likely is not the cause of the development of colic. The author supports this claim by stating that infants fed breast milk exclusively still occasionally develop colic. To harm this conclusion you should look for an answer choice that shows that there is in fact some connection between cow’s milk and colic.

Answer choice (A): This answer supports the conclusion by showing that genetics in likely the cause of colic (hence not cow’s milk).

Answer choice (B): This answer also supports the argument by showing that infancy itself could be the cause of colic (hence not cow’s milk).

Answer choice (C): This answer also supports the stimulus, as the vast majority of infants fed cow’s milk did not develop symptoms of colic (hence cow’s milk is not the cause).

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Because the elimination of cow’s milk led to a complete disappearance of colic, the conclusion that cow’s milk is unrelated to colic is weakened.

Answer choice (E): This answer also supports the conclusion by suggesting that an infant’s digestive system is the cause of the development of colic (hence not cow’s milk).

[jennyli0804]

Hi,

I don't quite understand why (E) is incorrect. Doesn't (E) mean that the infants would develop colic if not for the enhanced digestive systems provided by the consumption of breast milk? As such, wouldn't it weaken the conclusion since colic is, in fact, caused by infants' inability to tolerate certain antibodies found in cows' milk?

Thank you.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Jenny!

To weaken this conclusion denying a causal relationship, we need to find an answer choice that shows there is some connection between colic and cow's milk. Answer choice (E) doesn't necessarily connect colic and cow's milk. Instead, it tells us that infants fed breast milk develop mature digestive systems faster than infants fed formula and that this may make them better able to tolerate cow's milk. This suggests that it isn't that some infants just don't have the ability to tolerate cow's milk, but rather that cow's milk tolerance is caused by digestive system maturity/development.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[manderz]

Hi I'm still confused on why D is the answer even after reviewing the explanations?

[James Finch]

Hi Manderz,

The stimulus in this question is weakening a causal claim by showing that another instance where there is no cause but the effect occurs. So in order to weaken this stimulus, we need to actually strengthen the causal link, and use one of the 5 ways to do so:

--Eliminate an alternate cause

--Show no cause/no effect

--Show same cause/same effect

--Eliminate reverse causation

--Bolster then data

As this stimulus doesn't rely on a specific data set and reverse causation isn't really in play, the correct answer choice is almost certainly going to be one of the first three types. So that's what we should be looking for in a Prephrase.

(D) works by showing the elimination of the cause (cow milk) leading to the elimination of the effect (colic). Granted, it's a bit tricky because it changes the ingestion of cow milk from infant to breastfeeding mother, but a careful reading should still make the connection clear.

Hope this clears things up!

[Naj]

I translated the stimulus to better understand what the author is trying to argue. The author does not support the idea that the cow milk is the cause to colic. The author argues that breast milk is the cause of the colic? therefore, we have to weaken the cause, which is breast milk causing colic in infants. I got confused with E, because it talks about infant formulas and not about cow milk this is because i think they introduced another type of milk beside breast and cow milk. I also got confused with the wording in D, "mothers of infants that are fed only breast milk" so are they say when a mother of an infant growing up drinked breast milk and because of their diet when they were an infant it NOW helps their infant to fight against any colic that could of have been from either breast or cow milk? if this the case then i dont see how it weakens it.

I might be over thinking here but it's worth a try to figure out where i went wrong.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Naj,

I agree with the second sentence of your post, but not the third. The author is arguing that inability to tolerate cow's milk is probably not a cause of colic. The author doesn't argue for any other specific alternate cause. The reference to breast milk in the argument is simply to show that there are situations where infants who are presumably not receiving cow's milk are still experiencing colic (thus, suggesting some alternate cause of colic, though maybe not necessarily breast milk--maybe there's some cause of colic totally unrelated to milk). So what we actually have to weaken is the idea that cow's milk does not cause colic (i.e., find an answer that shows cow's milk does cause colic).

What answer choice D is suggesting is that it's possible infants who are being fed breast milk are still receiving some cow's milk, because their mothers drink cow's milk (and the cow's milk then gets transferred to the infant through the breast milk). When those mothers stop drinking cow's milk, their babies' colic symptoms disappear. This makes it much more likely that it was the cow's milk causing those babies' cases of colic, thereby weakening the conclusion.

Answer choice E strengthens the argument, because it's suggesting that the reason babies develop colic is that their digestive systems haven't become mature enough.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[Naj]

Yes, thank you very much

[Nicholas Noyes]

So to clarify, the stimulus says that colic is not caused by cows milk...so in answer choice D when it says that infants symptoms of colic disappear after they are no longer exposed to cows milk (transferred via the mother's diet) is saying...that cows milk is likely the cause of colic in infants. I just want to clarify because that is how I viewed the question when I answered this.

-Nicholas

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Nicholas! You're right on the money. The statement in Answer Choice (D) weakens the stimulus's argument that colic does not come from cow's milk, and provides support instead for the idea that colic does come from cow's milk.

Nice job!