ACT Reading Quiz
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INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE & IDEAS
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PASSAGE
Passage A
A public-health researcher summarizes evidence that placing calorie information on restaurant menus can modestly reduce average calories purchased. In a multi-city analysis, the researcher reports that after labeling laws took effect, customers at large chain restaurants ordered about 20–30 fewer calories per meal on average. The effect was larger among frequent diners and among customers who reported actively using the labels. The researcher argues that even small per-meal reductions can matter at population scale. The report also suggests that menu labeling can encourage restaurants to reformulate items, lowering calories in the food supply without requiring individual willpower.
The researcher acknowledges limitations: some customers ignore labels, and effects vary by neighborhood. Still, the report concludes that labeling is a low-cost intervention that respects consumer choice while improving information.
Passage B
A sociologist argues that menu labeling overestimates the role of individual decision-making in diet-related health. The sociologist notes that people often choose restaurants based on price, convenience, and social routine, not nutritional calculations. In interviews, many participants described calorie numbers as "background noise" or even as a source of stress that led them to avoid eating out less, not necessarily to choose different items. The sociologist also points out that average reductions of 20–30 calories may fall within normal day-to-day variation and may not translate into meaningful health outcomes without broader changes.
Rather than focusing on labels, the sociologist favors policies that shift defaults: smaller portion sizes, limits on marketing to children, and subsidies that make healthier foods cheaper. The sociologist concludes that information alone rarely overcomes structural constraints.
The author of Passage B would most likely respond to Passage A by:
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