Vitamin Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

Trivia quiz questions with answers about vitamins

Vitamin Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

What is a vitamin?
A: A vitamin is an organic molecule (or related set of molecules) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism.

Essential nutrients cannot be synthesized in the organism, either at all or not in sufficient quantities, and therefore must be obtained how?
A: Through the diet.

The term vitamin does not include what three other groups of essential nutrients?
A: Minerals, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids.

Most vitamins are not single molecules but what?
A: Groups of related molecules called vitamers.

For example, vitamin E consists of what?
A: Four tocopherols and four tocotrienols.

What are the thirteen vitamins required by human metabolism are: vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B7, vitamin B9, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K.
Vitamins have diverse biochemical what?

A: Functions.
Some forms of vitamin A function as regulators of what?
A: Cell and tissue growth and differentiation.

The B complex vitamins function as what?
A: Enzyme cofactors (coenzymes) or the precursors for them.

Vitamin D has a hormone-like function as a regulator of what?
A: Mineral metabolism for bones and other organs.

Vitamins C and E function as what?
A: Antioxidants.

Both deficient and excess intake of a vitamin can potentially cause what?
A: Clinically significant illness, although excess intake of water-soluble vitamins is less likely to do so.

Before 1935, the only source of vitamins was what?
A: From food.

If intake of vitamins was lacking, the result was what?
A: Vitamin deficiency and consequent deficiency diseases.

Then, commercially produced tablets of what became available?
A: Yeast-extract vitamin B complex and semi-synthetic vitamin C.

This was followed in the 1950s by the mass production and marketing of what?
A: Vitamin supplements, including multivitamins, to prevent vitamin deficiencies in the general population.

Governments mandated addition of vitamins to what?
A: Staple foods such as flour or milk, referred to as food fortification, to prevent deficiencies.

Recommendations for folic acid supplementation during pregnancy reduced the risk of what?
A: The risk of infant neural tube defects.

Although reducing incidence of vitamin deficiencies clearly has benefits, supplementation is thought to be of little value for whom?
A: Healthy people who are consuming a vitamin-adequate diet.

The term vitamin is derived from what word?
A: The word vitamine, coined in 1912 by Polish biochemist Casimir Funk, who isolated a complex of micronutrients essential to life, all of which he presumed to be amines.

When this presumption was later determined not to be true, what was done?
A: The "e" was dropped from the name.

All vitamins were discovered (identified) when?
A: Between 1913 and 1948.

For the most part, vitamins are obtained from the diet, but some are acquired by other means: for example, microorganisms in the gut flora produce what vitamin?
A: Vitamin K and biotin.

Where is one form of vitamin D synthesized?
A: In skin cells when they are exposed to a certain wavelength of ultraviolet light present in sunlight.

Humans can produce some vitamins from precursors they consume: for example, vitamin A is synthesized from what?
A: Beta carotene

What is niacin synthesized from?
A: The amino acid tryptophan.

Vitamins are classified as either water-soluble or what?
A: Fat-soluble.

In humans what vitamins are fat-soluble?
A: A, D, E, and K.

Which vitamins are water-soluble?
A: B vitamins and vitamin C.

Water-soluble vitamins dissolve easily in water and, in general, are readily excreted from the body, to the degree that urinary output is what?
A: A strong predictor of vitamin consumption.

Because they are not as readily stored what is important?
A: More consistent intake.

Where are fat-soluble vitamins absorbed?
A: Through the intestinal tract with the help of lipids (fats).

Vitamins A and D can accumulate in the body, which can result in what?
A: Dangerous hypervitaminosis.

Fat-soluble vitamin deficiency due to malabsorption is of particular significance in what disease?
A: Cystic fibrosis.

Each vitamin is typically used in multiple reactions, and therefore most have what?
A: Multiple functions.

Using the genetic blueprint inherited from its parents, a fetus develops from what?
A: The nutrients it absorbs.

It requires certain vitamins and minerals to be what?
A: Present at certain times.

These nutrients facilitate the chemical reactions that produce what?
A: Among other things, skin, bone, and muscle.

If there is serious deficiency in one or more of these nutrients, a child may develop what?
A: A deficiency disease.

Even minor deficiencies may cause what?
A: Permanent damage.

The USDA has conducted extensive studies on the percentage losses of various nutrients from different what?
A: Food types and cooking methods.

Some vitamins may become more "bio-available" – that is, usable by the body – when foods are what?
A: Cooked.

What do water-soluble vitamins such as B and C do when a vegetable is boiled?
A: Dissolve into the water, and are then lost when the water is discarded.

The body's stores for different vitamins vary widely; vitamins A, D, and B12 are stored in significant amounts, mainly where?
A: In the liver.

An adult's diet may be deficient in vitamins A and D for many months and B12 in some cases for years, before what?
A: Developing a deficiency condition.

However, vitamin B3 (niacin and niacinamide) is not stored in significant amounts, so stores may last how long?
A: Only a couple of weeks.

For vitamin C, the first symptoms of scurvy in experimental studies of complete vitamin C deprivation in humans have varied widely from a month to how long?
A: More than six months, depending on previous dietary history that determined body stores.

How are deficiencies of vitamins classified?
A: As either primary or secondary.

A primary deficiency occurs when an organism does what?
A: When it does not get enough of the vitamin in its food.

A secondary deficiency may be due to what?
A: An underlying disorder that prevents or limits the absorption or use of the vitamin, due to a "lifestyle factor", such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, or the use of medications that interfere with the absorption or use of the vitamin.

People who eat a varied diet are unlikely to develop what?
A: A severe primary vitamin deficiency.

In contrast, restrictive diets have the potential to cause what?
A: Prolonged vitamin deficits, which may result in often painful and potentially deadly diseases.

What are some well-known human vitamin deficiencies?
A: Thiamine (beriberi), niacin (pellagra), vitamin C (scurvy), folate (neural tube defects) and vitamin D (rickets).

Some vitamins have documented acute or chronic toxicity at what?
A: Larger intakes.

In 2016, overdose exposure to all formulations of vitamins and multi-vitamin/mineral formulations was reported by how many individuals to the American Association of Poison Control Centers with 72% of these exposures in children under the age of five?
A: 63,931.

In setting human nutrient guidelines, government organizations do not necessarily agree on what?
A: Amounts needed to avoid deficiency or maximum amounts to avoid the risk of toxicity.

For example, for vitamin C, recommended intakes range from 40 mg/day in India to 155 mg/day for where?
A: The European Union.

In those who are otherwise healthy, there is little evidence that supplements have any benefits with respect to what?
A: Cancer or heart disease.