Lesson 1.3.3

1.3.3 Perceptions of risk and energy balance Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Biology A (Salters-Nuffield), Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 1.3.3, Perceptions of risk and energy balance: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Biology A (Salters-Nuffield) (9BI0), Unit 1: Lifestyle, Health and Risk, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which factor is most likely to make people underestimate their own risk of heart disease from diet?

    • Availability bias, in which people rely on vivid recent cases of heart attacks to judge risk
    • A perception that the risk is entirely under the control of a doctor and not the individual
    • Optimism bias, the tendency to believe that bad outcomes are less likely to happen to oneself
    • Dread of the outcome, which makes people overestimate the chance of a heart attack

  2. Why do people often overestimate the risk of dramatic, rare events such as air crashes compared with common causes of death such as heart disease?

    • Air crashes kill more people each year than heart disease, so the perception is accurate
    • Heart disease is not reported in the media, so people never learn about its risk at all
    • Rare events are always linked to government policy, so people pay more attention to them
    • Vivid, widely reported events are more easily recalled, and dread makes them seem more likely

  3. What is the energy content of 1 g of fat, approximately?

    • 17 kJ
    • 380 kJ
    • 38 kJ
    • 4 kJ

  4. A person takes in 10 000 kJ of food per day and uses 9000 kJ. Over seven days, how much excess energy is stored, and approximately how many grams of fat would this be?

    • 1000 kJ, which is about 26 g of fat
    • 9000 kJ, which is about 237 g of fat
    • 63 000 kJ, which is about 1658 g of fat
    • 7000 kJ, which is about 184 g of fat

  5. Which statement describes energy balance correctly?

    • Weight gain occurs when energy intake is greater than energy expenditure over time
    • Energy balance depends only on the amount of water drunk, so food intake has no direct effect
    • Weight is unaffected by energy balance, because the body always burns off excess energy
    • Weight gain occurs when energy expenditure is greater than energy intake over time

  6. Which consequence is most directly associated with a long-term positive energy balance?

    • Development of obesity, which increases the risk of CVD
    • An increase in the proportion of HDL in the blood, which protects against plaque
    • A fall in the level of LDL cholesterol in the blood plasma
    • Increased sensitivity of the endothelium to the effects of nicotine

  7. Which of these is the most appropriate use of energy budget data in a health study?

    • To determine the exact blood pressure of each participant from their energy intake alone
    • To establish the genetic basis of the disease, because energy budgets are inherited
    • To measure the volume of plasma in the blood, which is directly determined by energy intake
    • To compare energy intake and expenditure in different groups and link imbalance to changes in weight

  8. A study finds that people who eat more fast food also have higher BMI. Which is the most appropriate evaluation?

    • Fast food directly causes obesity in every person, because the correlation is strong and positive
    • Fast food may be linked to BMI, but other factors such as activity levels must be considered
    • The study shows no link between diet and body weight, because BMI does not measure fat
    • BMI causes people to eat more fast food, which is the only possible interpretation of the data

  9. A person with a BMI of 35 has a waist-to-hip ratio of 1.0. Which statement is most accurate?

    • The person's BMI and waist-to-hip ratio together show that their HDL cholesterol must be very low
    • The person has a normal BMI but a high waist-to-hip ratio, which indicates excellent fitness
    • The person has a high BMI and a high waist-to-hip ratio, both associated with increased CVD risk
    • The person has a low BMI and a low waist-to-hip ratio, so their CVD risk is minimal

  10. Which factor is most likely to affect how people perceive the risk of a dietary cause of heart disease?

    • The colour of the packaging, which determines whether people perceive the food as healthy
    • The exact chemical formula of the food, which people always understand and use to judge risk
    • Whether the risk feels under personal control, since people tend to underestimate risks they feel they can manage
    • The number of calories printed on the packet, which is the only factor that people use to judge risk

  11. Why might a person overestimate the risk of a rare cause of illness while underestimating a common dietary risk?

    • Dietary risks are always less important than rare causes, so people correctly underestimate them
    • Rare causes are always more dangerous than common ones, so people rightly give them more attention
    • Common dietary risks are never reported in the media, so people have no information about them at all
    • Rare, dramatic causes are vivid and memorable, whereas diet-related risks build up gradually and feel less immediate

  12. A person's daily energy expenditure is 8500 kJ and their intake is 8500 kJ. What is their energy balance, and what does this predict for weight?

    • Positive balance of 1 kJ, so weight should rise slowly over several years
    • Positive balance of 8500 kJ, so weight should rise rapidly each day
    • Zero balance, so weight should remain stable over time
    • Negative balance of 8500 kJ, so weight should fall rapidly each day

  13. What is the best description of the role of a basal metabolic rate in energy balance?

    • It is the energy stored as glycogen in the liver, which is released only during sleep
    • It is the minimum energy used by the body at rest, which is a major component of total daily expenditure
    • It is the energy in food that is excreted in faeces, which is not absorbed by the body
    • It is the maximum energy that a person can absorb from a single meal of carbohydrate

  14. A study finds that people in a sedentary group have a higher mean BMI than people in an active group. What is the best reason for caution in interpreting this?

    • Groups may differ in diet and other factors, and BMI is an indirect measure of body fat
    • BMI is a direct measure of blood cholesterol, so the study cannot show anything about weight
    • Sedentary people always have a lower BMI, so the finding must be due to measurement error
    • The study has the same design as a randomised controlled trial, so the causal result is certain

  15. Which of these is a reason that people may hold inaccurate perceptions of their weight status?

    • Weight is always measured accurately by the body, so people know their weight without any tools
    • Social norms and personal comparisons can make excess weight seem normal
    • Weight perceptions are set by the number of red blood cells, which does not change with diet
    • People never compare their weight with others, so their perceptions depend only on the scale

  16. Which pair of statements about perceptions of risk is correct?

    • People always underestimate all risks, and never overestimate any risk in their daily lives
    • People always overestimate all risks, and never underestimate any risk in their daily lives
    • People estimate risks accurately when they are given numerical data about the probabilities
    • People can both overestimate rare dramatic risks and underestimate common gradual risks

  17. A person eats 500 kJ more than they expend each day for 28 days. Approximately how much stored energy has been added?

    • 14 000 kJ
    • 140 000 kJ
    • 1 400 kJ
    • 500 kJ

  18. Which factor best explains why weight loss is harder to sustain for some people than others?

    • Weight loss is caused by the level of HDL in the blood, which is fixed for each person at birth
    • Weight loss depends only on the number of calories printed on food labels, so it is equally easy for everyone
    • Differences in energy expenditure and appetite regulation between individuals make a fixed deficit harder for some
    • Weight loss is impossible for people who have ever smoked, because nicotine prevents fat from being burned

  19. An energy budget shows that a population's average daily intake is 9500 kJ and average expenditure is 10 000 kJ. What does this predict over time?

    • A rise in blood cholesterol, because the energy balance affects LDL production directly
    • Average weight gain, because the energy balance is positive
    • No change in weight, because intake and expenditure are both close to 10 000 kJ
    • Average weight loss, because the energy balance is negative

  20. Which measure is used to judge whether an adult's weight is in a healthy range relative to their height?

    • Waist circumference alone, measured in centimetres at the level of the navel
    • Haematocrit, the proportion of red cells in a blood sample expressed as a percentage
    • Basal metabolic rate, measured in kJ per day when the person is at rest
    • Body mass index, calculated as mass in kg divided by height in metres squared

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