LSAT 112 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q17

LR Question 17 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Researchers have found that people who drink five or more cups…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: Researchers are limiting their coffee intake to two cups per day.

REASONING: Research has shown that people who drink more than 5 cups of coffee per day have a greater chance of developing heart disease. This is after corrections are made for smoking and age.

ANALYSIS: We don’t know what the risk of 3 or 4 cups would be. Similarly, maybe drinking any coffee at all is harmful. Lastly, some third factor could cause both coffee drinking and heart attacks.

___________

1. This would actually support the researchers’ decision to drink fewer than three cups.
2. This tells us about a population-wide health trend. It doesn’t tell us what risks the researchers face.
3. CORRECT. This would mean that stress could cause both coffee consumption and heart attacks. So coffee consumption might be fine if you aren’t stressed. And not drinking coffee might not help you if you are stressed. 
4. The study already corrected for smoking rates.
5. This supports the study’s conclusion that coffee directly causes the risk (as opposed to being merely correlated with risk.)