Extract:
Super Foods
Super foods are whole, unprocessed foods such as blueberries, walnuts, beans, oats, and broccoli. Spinach, yogurt, and pomegranates are also super foods. They are classified as such because they contain high levels of essential nutrients, are low in calories, and can often help prevent, and even reverse, some of the common effects of aging including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain types of cancer. Super foods help lower cholesterol levels in the blood and, some researchers believe, even improve a person’s mood.
High on the list of super foods are blueberries, fresh or frozen, which are loaded with vitamin C, antioxidants, and potassium. Blueberries are also an anti-inflammatory, which many researchers and nutritionists believe is beneficial. Lentils are a super food that helps prevent a spike in insulin levels that can increase body fat. Lentils are high in both fiber and protein, each of which contributes to stabilizing blood sugar levels and reducing excess fat, especially in the stomach area.
Walnuts are a plant-based source of essential unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, which can improve cholesterol and lower the risk of heart disease by as much as 50 percent. All oats are healthful. Oats, even instant oatmeal, are digested slowly while providing up to five grams of fiber per serving.
As physicians and nutritionists continue to study super foods and their effects, consumers continue to educate themselves about the variety of benefits. In an era when consumers question the origin and nutritional value of much of the food on store shelves, super foods are some of the most healthful and natural whole foods available.
The passage mentions all of the following claims for the health benefits of super foods EXCEPT __________.
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A
lowering cholesterol
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B
stabilizing insulin levels
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C
building muscle mass
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D
reducing blood pressure
The health benefit not claimed is building muscle mass, while lentils contain protein, the passage discusses protein's role in blood sugar stabilization, not muscle development.
A) lowering cholesterol
Explicitly stated twice: "Super foods help lower cholesterol levels in the blood" and walnuts "can improve cholesterol."
B) stabilizing insulin levels
Explicitly stated: "Lentils are a super food that helps prevent a spike in insulin levels" and contribute to "stabilizing blood sugar levels."
C) building muscle mass
Never mentioned. Though lentils are "high in... protein," the passage specifies protein's role in "stabilizing blood sugar levels and reducing excess fat", not muscle development.
D) reducing blood pressure
Explicitly stated: super foods help prevent and reverse "high blood pressure" among aging effects.
Conclusion
Three benefits appear explicitly: cholesterol reduction, insulin stabilization, and blood pressure reduction. Muscle building represents an unstated potential protein benefit, absent from the passage's specific health claims about super foods.