“Vitamin E is a proven antioxidant and may help in fighting cancer and heart disease.” Is there anything ambiguous about this claim?

Question

Can someone please help and give me a detailed answer for this problem Thank you.

Answer 1

Try to break up the statement into logical statements.

p=Vitamin E is a proven antioxidant
q=Vitamin E helps in fighting/preventing cancer
r=Vitamin E helps in fighting/preventing heart-disease.

The given statement is therefore equivalent to saying
p∧(q∨~q)∧(r∨~r)
where ~ represents negation, and if we interpret the "and" as a logical ∧.
Since the statement says "may help", it can go either way, so we have
(q∨~q) and (r∨~r), both of which are tautologies.

It is similar to saying "It may rain on New Year's Day". The statement is true whether it rains or not.

Answer 2

"Vitamin E is a proven antioxidant and may help in fighting cancer and heart disease." Is there anything ambiguous about this claim?