When Food is Boiled It Loses Much of Its Original Nutritional Value.

Question: When food is boiled it loses much of its original nutritional value. The nutrients in food are what the human body needs to function correctly. Food that has been steamed contains a high amount of its original nutritional value.

Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?

(A) Nutrients help the body heal damaged cells.
(B) Steaming food is not a common cooking method.
(C) Steamed food is the healthiest form of food.
(D) Steamed food is healthier than boiled food.
(E) Steamed food is not as tasty as boiled food.

“When food is boiled it loses much of its original nutritional value.” – This is a GMAT Critical Reasoning question. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘GMAT Critical Reasoning, By Manhattan Prep, 6th Edition’. In this particular topic, candidates need to choose the option that best suits the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: D

Explanation:

This is an Inference question in the GMAT Verbal section. The argument consists of premises only, on which basis students are asked to draw a conclusion. The conclusion is not provided. Let us see what the premises are:

Premise A: When food is boiled it loses much of its original nutritional value.
Premise B: Nutrients are important in keeping the human body healthy.
Premise C: When food is steamed it only loses a little of its original nutritional value.

Since we need to find the conclusion, let us check each option one at a time.

(A) Nutrients help the body heal damaged cells.

This option is Incorrect.

The argument provided by the author does not mention anything about the healing of cells. This is a new opinion provided which is out of context. We need to find the conclusion based on the premises provided. Hence, this is incorrect.
(B) Steaming food is not a common cooking method.

This is also Incorrect.

The passage provided does not mention anything about the popularity of cooking methods. Since the information is out of context, we cannot conclude that to steam the food is not a common practice.
(C) Steamed food is the healthiest form of food.

This option is incorrect.

As per the argument, the author states that steamed food is a healthy form of food. There are no evidence that proves it as the healthiest form of food in existence. We cannot determine if steamed food is the healthiest of all foods. Hence, this is also incorrect.
(D) Steamed food is healthier than boiled food.

The passage above informs us that nutrients are healthy. It is also mentioned that boiled food does not contain many nutrients while steamed food does. Therefore, we can conclude that steamed food is healthier than boiled food. This can be also drawn from the premises stated. Hence, this is the correct answer.
(E) Steamed food is not as tasty as boiled food.

This is also incorrect.

There is nothing mentioned about taste in the argument provided by the author. The passage talks about healthy foods. Since this is out of context, we can consider this incorrect.

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