Nutritional Deficiency Disorders Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Rickets, a vitamin D deficiency, causes bone deformities such as kyphosis (iv). Fluorosis from excess fluoride causes mottled teeth (iii). Beriberi, due to thiamine deficiency, causes paraesthesia, a tingling in the limbs (ii), and pellagra, due to niacin deficiency, causes delirium (i). So the code is iv, iii, ii, i. Polyuria (v) is a sign of diabetes and is left over. Option A fails at the first pair, where it joins rickets with polyuria and not with kyphosis. Option B fails at the first pair, where it joins rickets with mottled teeth and not with kyphosis. Option C fails at the first pair, where it joins beriberi with polyuria and not with paraesthesia.

Answer: C

The question asks for the conditions that are not deficiency diseases. Xerophthalmia and keratomalacia come from a lack of vitamin A, and osteomalacia comes from a lack of vitamin D or calcium, so (a), (c) and (d) are deficiency diseases. Dyslipidemia is an abnormality of the blood lipids and anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder of psychological origin, so (b) and (e) are the two that are not. The answer is (b) and (e), option (C); the other options each include a vitamin deficiency disease.

Answer: B

The fortificant used in iodised salt is potassium iodate.

Under the Indian programme the salt is fortified with potassium iodate, since it is much more stable than potassium iodide in the heat, humidity and impurities of tropical storage and transport. Potassium iodide loses iodine by oxidation and volatilisation, which is why it is no longer preferred. Sodium iodide and sodium iodate are not the compounds used in the national programme.

Answer: A

The key gives the order of symptoms of vitamin A deficiency as night blindness (I), xerophthalmia (III), keratinization (II) and keratomalacia (IV). Night blindness is the earliest symptom, since the rod pigment rhodopsin is affected first.

The eye then becomes dry and the conjunctiva thickens, the cornea is affected, and the final and most serious stage is keratomalacia, which can lead to blindness. The other codes begin with a later stage or place keratomalacia before the earlier ones.