Biology

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Vitamins, minerals and nutrition

⏱ 4 min read🧩 6 question types🎯 21 practice Q

The idea in one minute

Vitamins and minerals are needed in small amounts. Lack of each one causes a named disease. Most questions ask for the pair: the vitamin and its disease, or the mineral and its problem. A few energy numbers (4, 4 and 9 kcal per gram) come with them.

Vitamin and its deficiency disease

This table is the most asked table in the topic.

Vitamin	Chemical name	Deficiency disease	Source
A	Retinol	Night blindness, xerophthalmia	Carrot, papaya, milk
B₁	Thiamine	Beriberi	Whole grains, pulses
B₂	Riboflavin	Cheilosis (cracked lips)	Milk, eggs
B₃	Niacin	Pellagra (3 Ds)	Groundnut
B₁₂	Cyanocobalamin	Pernicious anaemia	Meat, milk
C	Ascorbic acid	Scurvy (bleeding gums)	Amla, citrus
D	Calciferol	Rickets (children), osteomalacia (adults)	Sunlight, fish oil
E	Tocopherol	Sterility	Wheat germ
K	Phylloquinone	Poor clotting	Green leafy vegetables

Tip: Scurvy is C. Rickets is D. These two are the usual swaps in wrong-pair questions.

Fat-soluble and water-soluble

Fat-soluble: A, D, E, K. The body stores them, so too much can harm.
Water-soluble: B-complex and C. They wash out daily.
Casimir Funk (1912) coined the word 'vitamine'.
Sunlight on the skin makes vitamin D.
Cooking destroys vitamin C most easily.

Minerals and their role

Mineral	Role or deficiency
Iron	Anaemia (haemoglobin is iron-based)
Iodine	Goitre (thyroxine)
Calcium	Weak bones and teeth
Phosphorus	Bones and ATP
Fluorine	Too little causes dental caries. Too much causes fluorosis
Sodium, potassium	Nerve and muscle function
Zinc	Wound healing and immunity

Watch: Fluorine harms in both directions: too little and too much.

Malnutrition: the two classics

	Kwashiorkor	Marasmus
Lacks	Protein (calories are adequate)	Protein and calories
Look	Swollen belly, oedema, thin limbs	All skin and bones
Age	1 to 3 years	Under one year

Rule: Kwashiorkor is swollen. Marasmus is shrunken.

Obesity is the opposite imbalance. Roughage (fibre) prevents constipation.

Food energy

Component	Energy
Carbohydrate	4 kcal/g
Protein	4 kcal/g
Fat	9 kcal/g

Fat gives more than twice the energy per gram. A 30 g fat snack gives $30 \times 9 = 270$ kcal.

Example: A snack has 20 g fat and 10 g carbohydrate. Energy is $20 \times 9 + 10 \times 4 = 180 + 40 = 220$ kcal.

A balanced diet splits the calories roughly into 60% carbohydrates, 25 to 30% fat and 10 to 15% protein. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the energy burnt at rest. An adult needs about 2,000 to 2,500 kcal a day.

Question types you will see

Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.

Type 1very common6 practice Q

Vitamin and deficiency disease

How to spot it:

'Scurvy is caused by deficiency of', 'rickets', 'beriberi', 'night blindness', 'pernicious anaemia'.

Method

Read the disease name.
Find it in the vitamin table.
Check D with rickets and C with scurvy first.

Why it works:

The pairs are fixed, so no reasoning is needed.

Try this

Pernicious anaemia is caused by the deficiency of which vitamin?

Show solution

Pernicious anaemia goes with cobalt.
The vitamin is cyanocobalamin.

Answer

Vitamin B₁₂

Type 2very common3 practice Q

Vitamin sources and solubility

How to spot it:

'Which vitamins are fat-soluble', 'made in the skin by sunlight', 'rich source of vitamin C'.

Method

Fat-soluble means A, D, E, K.
Sunlight on skin makes vitamin D.
Cooking destroys vitamin C the most.

Why it works:

The body stores fat-soluble vitamins and washes out the rest.

Try this

Which set contains only fat-soluble vitamins?

Show solution

Recall the word KADE.
The set is A, D, E, K.

Answer

A, D, E, K

Type 3common3 practice Q

Mineral and deficiency or role

How to spot it:

'Goitre is due to deficiency of', 'anaemia is caused by lack of', 'which mineral builds bones and teeth'.

Method

Iron gives anaemia.
Iodine gives goitre.
Calcium and phosphorus build bones and teeth.

Why it works:

Each mineral has one headline role.

Try this

Anaemia (low haemoglobin) most commonly results from deficiency of which mineral?

Show solution

Haemoglobin is an iron pigment.
Less iron means less oxygen carried.

Answer

Iron

Type 4common2 practice Q

Malnutrition: kwashiorkor vs marasmus

How to spot it:

'Kwashiorkor is caused by', 'swollen belly disease of children', 'difference between kwashiorkor and marasmus'.

Method

Swollen belly and oedema means kwashiorkor.
Skin and bones means marasmus.
Kwashiorkor lacks protein. Marasmus lacks protein and calories.

Why it works:

Swollen against shrunken separates the two.

Try this

A child with a swollen belly but adequate calorie intake suffers from what?

Show solution

The swelling is oedema.
Only protein is lacking.

Answer

Kwashiorkor

Type 5common2 practice Q

Food energy values (computed)

How to spot it:

'How much energy does 1 g of fat give', a snack's total calories from given grams.

Method

Recall: carbohydrate 4, protein 4, fat 9 kcal per gram.
Multiply each part by its value.
Add the parts.

Why it works:

Fat gives the most energy per gram.

Try this

A snack has 25 g carbohydrate, 10 g protein and 10 g fat. What is its energy?

Show solution

Carbohydrate: 25 × 4 = 100.
Protein: 10 × 4 = 40.
Fat: 10 × 9 = 90.
Total: 100 + 40 + 90.

Answer

230 kcal

Type 6occasional2 practice Q

Vitamin history and chemical names

How to spot it:

'Who coined the word vitamin', 'which vitamin is ascorbic acid', chemical names of vitamins.

Method

Casimir Funk coined 'vitamine' in 1912.
Match the chemical name from the table.
Ascorbic acid means scurvy means vitamin C.

Why it works:

The chemical name is often a giveaway for the disease.

Try this

The word 'vitamine' was coined by whom?

Show solution

He coined it in 1912.
His name is Casimir Funk.

Answer

Casimir Funk (1912)

Shortcuts that save time

⚡ Fat-soluble vitamins: KADE (or ADEK)

A, D, E and K dissolve in fat and are stored in the body. B and C dissolve in water.

⚡ Deficiency pairs: A-Andha (night blind), B1-Beriberi, C-sCurvy, D-Deformed bones (rickets), K-Klotting

Add B3 with Pellagra ('3 D's) and B12 with Pernicious anaemia (cobalt).

Example

Deficiency of which vitamin causes beriberi?

Show solution

Beriberi starts with B.
It goes with thiamine.

Answer

Vitamin B1 (thiamine)

Mistakes to avoid

Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.

Mistake 01

Linking scurvy to vitamin D.

Scurvy is vitamin C. Rickets is vitamin D.

Mistake 02

Calling vitamin C fat-soluble.

It is water-soluble and cooking heat destroys it.

Mistake 03

Mixing up kwashiorkor and marasmus.

Kwashiorkor lacks protein only. Marasmus lacks protein and calories.

Mistake 04

Saying fat gives 4 kcal per gram.

Fat gives 9 kcal per gram. Carbohydrate and protein give 4.

Mistake 05

Treating fluorine as harmless in large amounts.

Too much fluorine causes fluorosis. Too little causes caries.

Quick revision

Read this the night before the exam.

A night blindness, B₁ beriberi, B₃ pellagra, B₁₂ pernicious anaemia, C scurvy, D rickets, E sterility, K clotting.
Fat-soluble: A, D, E, K. Water-soluble: B and C.
'Vitamine' was coined by Casimir Funk. Vitamin D comes from sunlight.
Iron gives anaemia, iodine gives goitre, calcium gives bones, fluorine gives caries or fluorosis.
Kwashiorkor: protein lack, swollen. Marasmus: protein and calories lack, shrunken.
Energy: carbohydrate 4, protein 4, fat 9 kcal per gram.

Practice: 21 questions

Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.

Topic test · 10 questions

Suggested time 3 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.

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