Black Americans are, on the whole, about twice as likely as

[kicker]

Hi, Erin, please help. Thanks.

 

I chose D, but the correct answer is A. To me, A doesn't really connect to the question.

 

Black Americans are, on the whole, about twice as likely as White Americans to develop high blood pressure. this likelihood also holds for westernized Black Afrians when compared to White Afrians. Researchers have hypothesized that this predisposition in westernized Blacks may reflect an interaction between western high-salt diets and genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt.

 

Which of the following statements about persent day, westernized Black Africans, if true, would most tend to confirm the researchers' hypothesis?

 

a. The blood pressure of those descended from peoples situated throughout their history in Senegal and Gambia, where salt was always available, are low.

 

b. The unusally high salt consumption in certain areas of Africa represents a serious health problem.

 

c. Because of their blood pressure levels, most White Africans have markedly decreased their salt consumption.

 

d. Blood pressures are low among the Yoruba, who throughout their history, have been situated far inland from sources of sea salt, and far south of Saharan salt mines.

 

e. No significant differences in salt metabolism have been found between those peooples who have had salt available throughout their history and those who have not.

[longlong]

Linda,

 

My guess is that the correct answer support to provide the link between the availablity of salt to the blood pressure. In A, it is clearly indicate the availability of salt and the low blood pressure level among those who live there. But in D, it does not really tell you Yoruba is short with salt supply. Being far from sea and far from Saharan salt mines does not automatically imply low salt availability. Perhaps, they have salt mine available locally. You can at most conclude that they are low in blood pressure, but certainly not conclude that they are short in salt supply.

 

Hope this help.

 

 

Ron

[sushilksood]

I tend to agree with Linda on "D".

[dafir]

I agree with longlong. The best answer is A

 

being far from salt resources doesn't imply salt scarcity (the salt can be imported for exemple).

 

[kicker]

Well, Longlong, I agree with you that D does not necessary mean they do not have access to any salt.

[Erin]

Couple things here. First, in D, being far from two sources of salt does NOT mean that the Yoruba have no access at all to salt.

 

Second, the idea with A is that the peoples descended from Senegal and Gambia adapted to high-salt levels over time because salt was always available to them. In other words, these peoples are closer to White Americans in their tolerance of high salt levels than they are to Black Americans.

 

To explain in a slightly different way--the argument says that Black Americans suffer these health problems because their bodies haven't adapted to the higher-salt diets common in the US. Comparing Black Americans with descendants of Senegal and Gambia removes many of the other factors that could conceivably explain the discrepancy. The S's and G's are essentially a control group--they are the descendants of Black Africans with salt available to them, and the Black Americans are descendants of the ones with little salt available to them.

 

Make sense? Let me know if you have any questions! :)

[MBA_Fall2004]

Hi Linda,

This is a good question; I also thought the answer is D first. Later I found that D is not correct.

 

My Explanation:

 

The important thing to note --> choices given are about persent day, westernized Black Africans .

 

Now, D says that Blood pressures are low among the Yoruba who came from salt-scarced places. It doesn't help the researchers.

 

Researchers need either of two types of examples:

1. Persons who came from salt-scarced places and now have high blood pressure

2. Persons who came from salt-abundant places and now have low blood pressure.

 

Example in choice (A) is of type 2; A is the correct choice.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Originally posted by Linda

 

Hi, Erin, please help. Thanks.

 

I chose D, but the correct answer is A. To me, A doesn't really connect to the question.

 

Black Americans are, on the whole, about twice as likely as White Americans to develop high blood pressure. this likelihood also holds for westernized Black Afrians when compared to White Afrians. Researchers have hypothesized that this predisposition in westernized Blacks may reflect an interaction between western high-salt diets and genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt.

 

Which of the following statements about persent day, westernized Black Africans, if true, would most tend to confirm the researchers' hypothesis?

 

a. The blood pressure of those descended from peoples situated throughout their history in Senegal and Gambia, where salt was always available, are low.

 

b. The unusally high salt consumption in certain areas of Africa represents a serious health problem.

 

c. Because of their blood pressure levels, most White Africans have markedly decreased their salt consumption.

 

d. Blood pressures are low among the Yoruba, who throughout their history, have been situated far inland from sources of sea salt, and far south of Saharan salt mines.

 

e. No significant differences in salt metabolism have been found between those peooples who have had salt available throughout their history and those who have not.

[sushilksood]

This one hurts

[kicker]

So, basically, A strengthen the argument because the descendants of S and G are adapted to high salt diet compare to the descendants of other Black Americans who are not adapted to high salt diet?

[Erin]

Originally posted by Linda

 

So, basically, A strengthen the argument because the descendants of S and G are adapted to high salt diet compare to the descendants of other Black Americans who are not adapted to high salt diet?

The key is their reaction now--people whose genes are used to salt don't have high blood pressure, but those whose genes are not accustomed to salt do have high blood pressure.

 

Make sense?

[kicker]

yeah, got it!

[asdada1]

Still does not make sense, A cant be right because you cant assume that the present day Black Americans are not descendents of the Gs and Ss

[asdada1]

Similarly if you cant assume that just because Yoruba did not have access to salt they did not eat it, on similar grounds you cant assume that though the Gs and Ss that had access to salt they ate it

[computer-bot]

Well I think I have a further easier explanation for this question. The most important thing that we need to look into is the last line of the argument.

It says "may reflect an interaction between western high-salt diets and genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt."

Here western high salt diet refers to the high diet of US and Genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt refers to the Black Americans.

 

Pinpointing this, now you can say that if genes are adapted to high salt, there are lesser chances of getting high blood pressure.

 

Now read option A and you'll get the point.

 

I hope this helped.

 

GB

[MikeJung]

good expl

[beatit]

Very tricky question. Agree with A.

 

cbttl