#12 - Coffee and tea contain methylxanthines

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (D)

The stimulus consists of information rather than any real argument, so a Must Be True question will
often follow. The stimulus offers us the following three facts:

• 1. Methylxanthines found in Coffee and Tea increase the clumping of blood cells.
  
  2. Clumping is in general more pronounced in women than in men.
  
  3. Clumping is probably the cause of women’s higher risk following angioplasty.

We are asked to find which answer choice is most supported by the information provided in the stimulus.

Answer choice (A): Since methylxanthines increase clumping, which increases the risk of complications
after angioplasty, it makes no sense to give men these chemicals before such surgery.

Answer choice (B): The stimulus only concerns what factors might increase risk in angioplasty, never
ruling out any other surgical procedures, so this choice is unsupported and incorrect.

Answer choice (C): We cannot, based on the information in the stimulus, conclude anything about men’s
versus women’s consumption of coffee and tea. The fact that women have a higher risk following a
particular procedure does not necessarily tell us anything about their consumption of coffee and tea.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Since women are already more prone to
clumping after angioplasty, they should certainly avoid coffee and tea, because drinking coffee or tea
makes the problem worse.

Answer choice (E): The stimulus is an observation of certain risks involved in angioplasty, not a general
recommendation against the surgery.

[emilysnoddon]

I had a hard time with this question. I diagramed the causality in the stimulus as such:

Coffee and tea (methylxanthines) ---> temporary increase in vasopressin --> clumping of blood cells

I chose answer C for this question because I was thinking that if women drink more coffee and tea on average than men do this would explain why they have more complications following angioplasty (because this would cause them to clot more). I am now realizing that the problem with this answer is that angioplasty would be the cure to the effect of drinking too much coffee and answer choice D suggests that before undergoing angioplasty surgery they should try to avoid coffee and tea to see if this would help the problem before resorting to surgery. Is that why answer choice D is correct?

Thanks for your help,

Emily

[David Boyle]

I had a hard time with this question. I diagramed the causality in the stimulus as such:

Coffee and tea (methylxanthines) ---> temporary increase in vasopressin --> clumping of blood cells

I chose answer C for this question because I was thinking that if women drink more coffee and tea on average than men do this would explain why they have more complications following angioplasty (because this would cause them to clot more). I am now realizing that the problem with this answer is that angioplasty would be the cure to the effect of drinking too much coffee and answer choice D suggests that before undergoing angioplasty surgery they should try to avoid coffee and tea to see if this would help the problem before resorting to surgery. Is that why answer choice D is correct?

Thanks for your help,

Emily

Hello Emily,

I'm not sure what "angioplasty would be the cure to the effect of drinking too much coffee" means. (I've never heard anyone say, "I drank too much coffee, now I need an artery operation!") But in any case, answer D seems to mean that it is risky for women to drink coffee/tea before an angioplasty, since those drinks may increase the chance of dangerous clumping. Answer D may not mean that women should avoid coffee and tea in general.
And, answer C is not necessarily true: maybe there are other reasons that women tend to be vulnerable to clumping, so that one needn't assume that they drink more coffee/tea than men.

Hope this helps,
David

[CJ12345:]

Hi, powerscore,
I chose C because I feel like C is more safely worded than D. C just said "probably" but D is saying "should" which sounds too prescriptive. Why D's strong wording is ok in this case, and why C's safe wording does not make it be the right AC?

[Robert Carroll]

CJ12345:,

Adding "probably" to a statement completely out of the scope of the stimulus isn't safe! There is no way to get from the stimulus which sex drinks more coffee and tea. The effect is more pronounced in one group than another. That tells me nothing about which group drinks more coffee or tea! So answer choice (C) is new information.

If we're talking about avoiding things that result in a tenfold increase in risk, it's fair to say those things should be avoided.

In general, you should not pick answers solely based on how "safe" their degree of certainty is. That's just one factor. As in this situation, an answer choice with toned-down wording like "could" or even "probably" isn't good if what "could" be or "probably" is is something not even mentioned by the stimulus.

Robert Carroll