A Certain Pharmaceutical Firm Claims that its Dietary Supplement GMAT Critical Reasoning

Question: A certain pharmaceutical firm claims that its dietary supplement, Dietol, is highly effective in helping obese people lose weight and improve physical endurance. The company supports this claim by providing the results of a recent experiment that involved over 800 subjects suffering from obesity. During the 9-week experiment, each of the subjects was required to take a regular dose of Dietol every day immediately after their daily 2-hour workouts supervised by a professional fitness instructor. As a result of the experiment, the subjects lost an average of 12 pounds of weight per person, and over 95% of all participants demonstrated higher physical endurance.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most helpful in evaluating the conclusion of the pharmaceutical company?

1. What was the daily dose of Dietol that the subjects were required to take?
2. What was the maximum weight lost by any participant during the 9-week program?
3. What would be the average weight loss and the improvement in endurance in a group of subjects with similar characteristics involved in the same physical fitness program but not taking Dietol?
4. What was the average age among the subjects participating in the experiment?
5. Did the majority of subjects experience a significant improvement in physical strength?

Answer: C
Explanation:

In GMAT critical reasoning, the candidates are tested on their reasoning, logical and analytical thinking abilities. In the above passage, the pharmaceutical company claims that Dietol is highly effective in helping people lose weight and increase their physical endurance. To check the effectiveness, an experiment was conducted involving 800 individuals who were suffering from obesity. The intake of Dietol was accompanied by daily workouts under professional supervision. Hence, it is unclear whether the results of the experiment should be credited to the effects of Dietol or the fitness program in which the subjects participated.

Hence, to evaluate the conclusion about the effectiveness of Dietol, we will separate these two effects and to see the result, if any, is attributable to Dietol alone.

1. What was the daily dose of Dietol that the subjects were required to take? - This would have been somewhat helpful in experiments. However, this does not provide us with data or information whether it would be helpful or not. With the amount of daily dose, we will not be able to evaluate the conclusion of the pharmaceutical company.
2. What was the maximum weight lost by any participant during the 9-week program? - The maximum weight loss will not be helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of the supplement. This will help to provide typical result and provides little information about the effectiveness of Dietol. The effectiveness cannot be counted based on the maximum weight loss.
3. What would be the average weight loss and the improvement in endurance in a group of subjects with similar characteristics involved in the same physical fitness program but not taking Dietol? - This option will provide the details of the average weight loss and endurance than the group without taking the medication. For example, a group would be able to achieve similar results just by repeating the fitness program over the 9-week experiment. This means that taking the medication did not help. This outcome would provide doubts on the claim of the pharmaceutical company about the effectiveness of Dietol. Hence, this is the correct answer.
4. What was the average age among the subjects participating in the experiment? - The pharmaceutical company does not make any claim about Dietol’s effectiveness for a specific age group. The passage does not provide any such aruguments. Hence, this is not correct. .
5. Did the majority of subjects experience a significant improvement in physical strength? - The company claims that Dietol will help obese people lose weight and improve endurance. There is nothing claimed by the company about the physical strength. Therefore, information about the improvement in physical strength is unrelated to the conclusion. Hence, this is also incorrect.

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