SSC
Which vitamin helps the human body absorb and use calcium for bones and teeth?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option C — Vitamin D
Detailed Solution
Vitamin D (calciferol) is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus from food in the intestine and use them to build and maintain strong bones and teeth. Without enough vitamin D, the body cannot absorb enough calcium, even if the diet contains plenty of it.
Vitamin D is often called the "sunshine vitamin", because the skin makes it when it is exposed to sunlight. Ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays from the Sun convert a cholesterol-derived compound in the skin (7-dehydrocholesterol) into vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). The liver and kidneys then convert it into its active form, calcitriol, which acts like a hormone.
Food sources include fish liver oils (such as cod liver oil), oily fish (such as salmon and mackerel), egg yolk, mushrooms exposed to sunlight, and fortified foods such as milk and cereals.
Deficiency of vitamin D causes:
- Rickets in children: the bones become soft and weak, leading to bowed legs, knock knees, delayed growth and deformities of the skull and chest.
- Osteomalacia in adults: softening of the bones, causing bone pain and muscle weakness.
- It also contributes to osteoporosis (brittle bones) in older people.
Despite abundant sunshine, vitamin D deficiency is very common in India, because of indoor lifestyles, air pollution, clothing that covers the body, darker skin pigmentation and low dietary intake. The FSSAI encourages fortification of milk and edible oil with vitamins A and D.
Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, it is stored in the body, and taking too much in supplements can cause toxicity (hypervitaminosis D), with high calcium levels in the blood and damage to the kidneys.
Fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K. Water-soluble vitamins are the B-complex vitamins and vitamin C.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Vitamin C helps form collagen and prevents scurvy.
- ✗Vitamin K helps in the clotting of blood.
- ✗Vitamin B12 helps form red blood cells; its deficiency causes pernicious anaemia.
Quick tip
Remember: Vitamin D = sunshine vitamin, calcium absorption; deficiency = rickets (children) and osteomalacia (adults); fat-soluble vitamins = A, D, E, K.
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Nutrition, Vitamins & Digestion — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Nutrition, Vitamins & Digestion, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers human nutrition: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, their sources and the diseases caused by their deficiency, balanced diet, and the human digestive system with its organs, glands and enzymes. Exam questions frequently ask which deficiency causes which disease (scurvy from lack of vitamin C, rickets from vitamin D, night blindness from vitamin A and beriberi from vitamin B1), the chemical names of vitamins, and where each nutrient is digested. The liver is the largest gland in the human body and produces bile. Practise the nutrition, vitamins and digestion questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.