Machine-translated by Google. Questions are authored in English.
Top

Vitamins and Minerals Questions and Answers

11.

Given below are two statements: One is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R.

Assertion A: People can make enough vitamin D from the action of sunlight on their skin.
Reason R: When the body is exposed to the ultra-violet rays of the sun, a substance under the skin known as dehydrocholesterol is converted to cholecalciferol which is stored in the liver and used as required.

In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:

Exam Year(s)

RSMSSB - 2026, RSMSSB Mahila Supervisor - 2026,

Answer: A

The answer is Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A.

Most people can make enough vitamin D through sunlight on their skin, which is why it is called the sunshine vitamin.

The Reason gives the mechanism: ultraviolet rays convert 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin into cholecalciferol (vitamin D3), which goes to the liver to be stored and processed. That process is exactly how sunlight lets people make their own vitamin D, so R explains A.

Please log in or register to report this question.

12.

Select the incorrect pairs.

a. Rickets - Vitamin D
b. Night blindness - Vitamin A
c. Metabolism of carbohydrates - Vitamin B12
d. Muscle tissue damage - Vitamin E
e. Beri- Beri - Vitamin C

Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:

Exam Year(s)

RSMSSB - 2026, RSMSSB Mahila Supervisor - 2026,

Answer: D

The key is e only.

The question asks for the incorrect pairs. Rickets is caused by vitamin D deficiency (a is correct), night blindness by vitamin A deficiency (b is correct) and muscle tissue damage is linked with vitamin E deficiency (d is correct). Beri-beri is caused by lack of thiamine (vitamin B1), not vitamin C, whose deficiency causes scurvy, so (e) is the incorrect pair.

Pair (c) is the weak one. Standard nutrition texts list vitamin B12, with the other B-complex vitamins, as taking part in the metabolism of carbohydrate, fat and protein, so the key counts it as acceptable; thiamine is the vitamin most tied to carbohydrate metabolism, which is why some readers would call c incorrect too. No option offers 'c and e', so the only answer the key can intend is e alone. Options A, B and C each include a pair that is correct as printed (a, b or d).

Please log in or register to report this question.

13.

Match List-I with List-II :

List-I
Vitamin
List-II
Function
(a) Vitamin K(i) Normal immune system function and production of cells in eye (retina)
(b) Vitamin E(ii) Absorption of calcium in the body
(c) Vitamin A(iii) Antioxidant
(d) Vitamin D(iv) Blood clotting

Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below :

Exam Year(s)

RSMSSB - 2024, RSMSSB Mahila Supervisor - 2024,

Answer: B

The correct matching is (a)-(iv), (b)-(iii), (c)-(i), (d)-(ii).

  • Vitamin K is needed to make clotting factors, so it is essential for blood clotting (iv).
  • Vitamin E is the body's main fat-soluble antioxidant, protecting cell membranes (iii).
  • Vitamin A supports normal immune function and is needed to make the light-sensitive pigment in the retina (i).
  • Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium from the gut (ii).

The other options swap A and D, or E and A.

Please log in or register to report this question.

14.

Deficiency of Vitamin D causes :

Exam Year(s)

RSMSSB - 2024, RSMSSB Mahila Supervisor - 2024,

Answer: A

Vitamin D deficiency causes rickets.

Vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium and phosphorus. In children its deficiency leaves the growing bones soft and poorly mineralised, so they bend under weight, causing bow legs, knock knees and a deformed chest: this is rickets. In adults the same deficiency causes osteomalacia.

Night blindness is caused by vitamin A deficiency, and anaemia most often by iron deficiency. Cancer is not a deficiency disease.

Please log in or register to report this question.

15.

Which mineral is required in the formation of DNA and cell membrane ?

Exam Year(s)

RSMSSB - 2024, RSMSSB Mahila Supervisor - 2024,

Answer: C

The mineral is phosphorus.

Phosphorus, as phosphate, forms the backbone of DNA and RNA, linking the sugar units of the strands. It is also part of phospholipids, the main building blocks of cell membranes, and of ATP, the cell's energy carrier.

Calcium is mainly needed for bones, teeth and muscle contraction, iron for haemoglobin, and sodium for fluid balance and nerve impulses. None of them is a structural part of DNA or membranes.

Please log in or register to report this question.

16.

Which Vitamin is converted to its active form (calcitriol) in the kidneys ?

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: B

The answer is Vitamin D.

Vitamin D from the skin or the diet is first hydroxylated in the liver to 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (calcidiol). The kidney then adds a second hydroxyl group, forming 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, which is calcitriol, the hormonally active form that raises calcium absorption from the gut.

Vitamins A, E and K are fat-soluble too, but none of them is activated in the kidney: vitamin A acts as retinal and retinoic acid, vitamin E is an antioxidant used as such, and vitamin K works as a cofactor for clotting-factor carboxylation in the liver.

Please log in or register to report this question.

17.

Commonly used iron salt for fortification :

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2019, SET Exam - 2019,

Answer: A

The iron salt most commonly used for fortification is ferrous sulphate.

Ferrous sulphate is cheap, highly bioavailable and is the reference compound against which other iron fortificants are judged. It is used in wheat flour, infant foods and in iron supplements. Its drawback is reactivity: it can cause off-colours and rancidity in some foods, which is why encapsulated forms are used.

Ferrous fumarate is also used, especially in cereal blends, but less commonly. Ferric compounds are less well absorbed than ferrous ones, and 'ferric salt' is not a specific fortificant.

Please log in or register to report this question.

18.

Collagen formation in the body requires :

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2020, SET Exam - 2020,

Answer: C

Collagen formation requires vitamin C.

Ascorbic acid is a cofactor for the enzymes prolyl and lysyl hydroxylase, which hydroxylate proline and lysine in procollagen. Without this step collagen fibres cannot form stable cross-links, which is why vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) causes bleeding gums, poor wound healing and fragile blood vessels.

Zinc helps in wound healing and protein synthesis, iron is a cofactor of the same hydroxylases but cannot replace vitamin C, and vitamin D works on calcium absorption and bone mineral rather than collagen.

Please log in or register to report this question.

19.

Which of the following vitamins provides the cofactor for the transfer of one-carbon units ?

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2020, SET Exam - 2020,

Answer: D

The vitamin that supplies the cofactor for one-carbon transfer is folate.

Folate is converted to tetrahydrofolate (THF), which carries one-carbon units (methyl, methylene, formyl) in the synthesis of purines and thymidine for DNA, and in amino acid conversions such as serine to glycine. Deficiency therefore causes megaloblastic anaemia and neural tube defects.

Thiamine (as TPP) works in decarboxylation, riboflavin (FAD, FMN) and niacin (NAD, NADP) in oxidation-reduction reactions, so none of them carries one-carbon units.

Please log in or register to report this question.

20.

The serum retinol cut off value below which vitamin A deficiency is indicated :

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2021, SET Exam - 2021,

Answer: B

Vitamin A deficiency is indicated by serum retinol less than 0.70 µmol/L.

The World Health Organization uses a serum retinol concentration below 0.70 µmol/L (about 20 µg/dL) as the cut-off for vitamin A deficiency in populations, and below 0.35 µmol/L for severe deficiency.

0.07 µmol/L is ten times too low, 7.70 µmol/L is far above normal blood levels, and 0.77 µmol/L is a near-miss distractor that does not correspond to any WHO threshold.

Please log in or register to report this question.

Loading…

Other Subjects