Everyday Science — Chapter 5

Vitamins, Food & Nutrition — Vitamins A to K, Sources and Deficiency, and the Balanced Diet

Why this chapter matters: food and vitamin questions are the most mechanical block in Everyday Science — the papers ask the same five things about every vitamin: its chemical name, its source, its deficiency disease, whether it dissolves in fat or water, and whether the body stores it. Our verified banks hold 122 questions matching this topic by question text, and the weight sits exactly where this chapter puts it: vitamins A–K and their chemical names (83 questions) — above all vitamin A (vision), vitamin C (scurvy, ascorbic acid, guava), vitamin D (sunlight, rickets, cod liver oil) and vitamin K (blood clotting) — followed by balanced diet and nutrients (20), food sources, minerals and water (3) and vitamin-deficiency diseases (16, which also serve Chapter 4’s disease set). Chapter 2 taught the food-science half of Lecture 2 in outline and Chapter 4 taught the deficiency diseases; this chapter is the nutrient unit — the vitamin itself, its source and its job — so no “which vitamin?” question has to be guessed. The deficiency diseases are summarised here and taught in full in Chapter 4; the spheres and water cycle stay in Chapter 2.

1. The balanced diet — the framework everything hangs on

• A balanced diet is a diet that contains all the food nutrients in the right amounts for growth and maintenance — the banks’ own definition question (“a balanced diet contains → food nutrients for growth and maintenance”).
• Balanced diet = Organic + Inorganic:

• Vitamins are organic compounds needed in small quantities for normal function, growth and development. They cannot be made by the body in sufficient amounts and must come from food — with the two exceptions in Section 3 (vitamin D made in the skin with sunlight, vitamin K made by intestinal bacteria).
• How the papers sort vitamins — learn this first, then the table:

• Vitamins were discovered by Casimir Funk — the banks’ answer to “vitamins were discovered by → Funk”. Funk coined “vitamine” (vital amine) in 1912 from rice-bran work on beriberi; the final “e” was later dropped when it turned out not all vitamins are amines. Vitamins act as co-enzymes in the body’s chemistry (the banks’ answer to “vitamins act as → co-enzyme”).

2. The master vitamin table — chemical name, source, deficiency

This is the chapter’s core. Learn it row by row; Section 9 compresses it into one-liners and Section 10 shows which rows the banks ask most.

• Milk is the common source: mnemonic KBDA — K, B, D, A all come from milk. One bank question keys milk, cheese and eggs as sources of vitamins A and D together.
• The two most-asked source facts in the banks: vitamin C is richest in guava (asked against orange as the distractor — guava beats orange), and vitamin D comes from the Sun (asked as “which vitamin is obtained from the Sun?”, “which vitamin is provided by sunlight?”, “which vitamin is produced in the body with the help of sunlight?” — always D).
• Vitamin C is destroyed by heat — the banks ask it three ways (“which vitamin gets destroyed on heating?”, “most susceptible to heat destruction during processing and cooking”, “easily destroyed during cooking as well as storage” — always C). That is why fresh citrus and guava, not long-cooked food, are the C sources papers name.
• Vitamin C cannot be stored in the human body — it is excreted in urine (“which vitamin is generally excreted by humans in urine? → vitamin C”; “which vitamin cannot be stored in the human body? → vitamin C”). Water-soluble vitamins must be eaten regularly; fat-soluble vitamins must not be overdosed.
• Vitamin A and vision: “vitamin concerned with vision → A”; “a vitamin that affects the ability to see in dim light → A”; “vitamins promote healthy functioning of eyes → A”. Carrots are the classic source question (“carrots, especially raw, are a good source of vitamin A”; “which vegetable is rich in vitamin A? → carrot”).
• Vitamin D and bones: “which vitamin helps young bones to grow strong? → D”; “essential for proper bone and teeth formation → D”; “useful in osteomalacia → D”; “lack of vitamin D causes → rickets”; “diet rich in eggs and dairy products overcomes vitamin D deficiency” (the banks’ answer to the D-deficiency diet question).
• Vitamin K and clotting: “which vitamin causes blood clotting, found in spinach leaves and leafy green vegetables? → vitamin K”; “the vitamin associated with the clotting of blood → vitamin K”.

3. Two vitamins the body makes itself — the trap pair

• Vitamin D is made in the skin on exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet radiation) — “the vitamin which can be most easily synthesised in the human body → vitamin D” (one bank paper’s wording) and “found in the body by exposure to ultraviolet radiation on sunlight → vitamin D”.
• Vitamin K is synthesised in the body by intestinal bacteria — “which vitamin is synthesised in the body by intestinal bacteria? → vitamin K”; “certain bacteria living in the human digestive system are beneficial because they synthesise vitamin → K”.
• The lecture’s shorthand — “the only vitamin the human body manufactures itself is K (D is made with sunlight’s help)” — is best read as: D is made with sunlight’s help, K is made by gut bacteria. Papers ask the two routes separately; do not let one answer swallow the other (see Traps).

4. The B-complex — eight vitamins, one family

• B-complex = 8 water-soluble vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12. The banks ask “vitamin B complex includes → B1, B2, B6, B12” (a partial list as the keyed option) — the full eight are:

• “The vitamin capable of formation of blood → B” (the banks’ wording) — the B family, above all B9 and B12, builds red blood cells.
• B-name MCQs (all asked): B1 = thiamine, B2 = riboflavin, B6 = pyridoxine, B9 = folic acid. Learn those four name-pairs cold; the other four names complete the eight.
• Why the numbering skips: there are no B4, B8, B10 or B11 vitamins in the family — substances once given those numbers turned out not to be essential vitamins. Papers do not ask the gaps, but knowing the family stops at eight (and that the numbers jump) stops a “B4” distractor from looking plausible.

5. Carbohydrates — instant energy

• Carbohydrates are the body’s instant-energy food (“instant energy comes from carbohydrates”).
• Found in: wheat, sugar, mango, barley — and the banks add banana (“which food item has the highest amount of carbohydrates? → banana”) and spinach (banana and spinach are both asked as high-carbohydrate foods in the lecture).
• One gram of carbohydrate gives 4.1 kilocalories (the banks’ figure).
• Three sizes, one rule — mono = one, di = two, poly = many:

• Glycogen storage sites: glycogen is stored mainly in the liver and in skeletal muscle — Section 5’s table already names glycogen as the animal/human storage form; the liver-and-muscles pair is the asked site answer (PMS 2026 Biological Science mock).
• A lactometer measures milk (from lactose — the milk-sugar word): “lactometer is an instrument to estimate the purity of → milk”; “what is a lactometer used for? → testing milk”.
• Honey never spoils (“which food never goes bad? → honey”).

6. Proteins — the body’s building material

• An adult needs 50–60 g of protein per day (asked).
• Sources: meat, fish, egg white, pulses/dals. The banks sharpen this three ways: in Pakistan protein is mainly attained by pulses and legumes; the best source of protein → fish; which has maximum protein? → groundnut. The protein content of the edible portion of egg is 13.3%; the protein content in wheat is approximately 12%.
• Tissues, muscles, hair and nails are all made of protein.
• Proteins are polymers of amino acids joined by peptide bonds — the amino acid is the protein’s building block (the asked definition; PMS 2026 Biological Science mock).
• Enzymes are proteins — they catalyse (speed up) chemical reactions (“enzymes reaction is a → catalyst”; “enzymes help in → digestion of food”). Interferons are proteins (remember just this word + protein).
• Haemoglobin is a complex protein rich in iron — it gives blood its colour, and blood cells do not get their normal haemoglobin when food is deficient in iron (the bridge from this chapter to Chapter 4’s anaemia row: iron deficiency → anaemia).

7. Lipids (fats), minerals and water

Lipids

• Fat = lipids (asked directly).
• Lipids are insoluble in water (hydrophobic) but soluble in organic solvents — and 1 g of fat gives about 9 kcal, against about 4 kcal per gram of protein or carbohydrate (Section 5 gives carbohydrates as 4.1 kcal/g; the 9-vs-4 split is the asked energy comparison).
• Milk is fatty; milk’s pH = 6.5 (asked); skimmed milk = light (fats removed).
• Fat is solid; oil is liquid at 20°C — the asked difference between fat and oil.

Minerals (inorganic, but taught with food)

• Iron → blood (blood needs iron — asked why; haemoglobin is the iron protein of Section 6).
• Calcium → bones + teeth (the D–calcium pair: vitamin D helps the body use calcium for bones and teeth).
• Also asked in the lecture’s mineral list: potassium, phosphorus, sodium, cobalt. Iodine belongs here too: iodine in salt prevents goitre (Chapter 4) — the mineral-deficiency pair to iron–anaemia.

Water

• Daily intake: 8 glasses (asked).
• Blood plasma = 90% water (asked — the lecturer once got this wrong himself); plasma = 55% of blood (the two figures get mixed — keep them apart).
• Excessive heat → body water loss = dehydration.

8. Dietary fibre — one line, one answer

• Dietary fibre prevents constipation (asked). Fibre is the organic nutrient that the body does not digest for energy but needs for the gut to work — the fifth organic item in Section 1’s list, after carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and vitamins.

8A. Food preservation and spoilage (PMS Screening 2026 Tough GK Mock, Q43–Q44; mock-only bank rows, no mark claimed)

• Food preservation by removing moisture is drying — taking the water out stops the microbes that need it.
• Milk spoilage is mainly due to microorganisms (bacteria) — the same spoilage logic as the chapter’s vitamin-C-by-heat and storage rules: microbes, moisture and warmth together spoil food; removing any one of them preserves it.

9. Master table — nutrient, source, deficiency at a glance

10. Rapid-fire one-liners

• Balanced diet = organic (carbs, lipids, proteins, fibres, vitamins) + inorganic (minerals, water).
• Preservation by removing moisture = drying · Milk spoilage = microorganisms.
• Fat-soluble vitamins: K, E, D, A (KEEDA) — stored in liver/fatty tissue, excess toxic.
• Water-soluble vitamins: B-complex, C — excreted in urine, not stored.
• Vitamins discovered by Funk; coined “vitamine” 1912; vitamins act as co-enzymes.
• Vitamin A = retinol; milk, carrots; deficiency → night blindness.
• Vitamin B-complex = 8 vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12); B1 = thiamine, B2 = riboflavin, B6 = pyridoxine, B9 = folic acid; B1 lack → beriberi; unpolished rice keeps B.
• Vitamin C = ascorbic acid; guava has more C than orange; deficiency → scurvy; destroyed by heat; excreted in urine; cannot be stored.
• Vitamin D = calciferol; from sunlight; richest source cod liver oil; deficiency → rickets / osteomalacia; strengthens bones and teeth.
• Vitamin E = tocopherol; cabbage, cauliflower, traces of selenium; deficiency → sterility (anti-sterile factor).
• Vitamin K = koagulation; green leafy vegetables, spinach; helps blood clotting; synthesised by intestinal bacteria.
• KBDA: K, B, D, A all come from milk.
• Glucose = C₆H₁₂O₆; disaccharides = SmaLL (sucrose, maltose, lactose); lactose is NOT a monosaccharide; polysaccharides = starch (plants), glycogen (animals/humans).
• Lactometer measures milk; honey never spoils; banana and spinach are high in carbohydrates.
• Instant energy = carbohydrates; 1 g carbohydrate = 4.1 kcal; wheat, sugar, mango, barley are carbohydrate foods.
• Adult protein need = 50–60 g/day; sources meat, fish, egg white, pulses; in Pakistan mainly pulses and legumes; best source fish; maximum protein groundnut; egg protein 13.3%, wheat protein 12%.
• Tissues, muscles, hair, nails = protein; enzymes = proteins that catalyse reactions; interferons = proteins.
• Fat = lipids; milk pH = 6.5; skimmed milk = fats removed; fat solid, oil liquid at 20°C.
• Iron → blood; calcium → bones + teeth; haemoglobin is an iron-rich complex protein.
• Daily water = 8 glasses; plasma = 90% water, 55% of blood; heat water loss = dehydration.
• Fibre prevents constipation.
• Healing of wounds is hastened by vitamin C; best source of vitamin C in one bank key = oranges (guava beats orange where both appear — see Traps).

11. Most-asked facts (from our verified past-paper banks)

• Vitamins A–K — 83 questions: vitamin A (vision, carrots, night blindness) asked a dozen ways; vitamin C (ascorbic acid, guava vs orange, scurvy, heat destruction, urine excretion) asked a dozen ways; vitamin D (sunlight, bones and teeth, cod liver oil, rickets, osteomalacia) asked a dozen ways; vitamin K (clotting, spinach/leafy greens, intestinal-bacteria synthesis) asked repeatedly; fat-soluble (A, D, E, K) vs water-soluble (B, C) asked as a pair; chemical names (ascorbic acid, retinol, calciferol, thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, folic acid) asked directly.
• Balanced diet & nutrients — 20 questions: protein sources and percentages (pulses in Pakistan, fish as best source, groundnut maximum, egg 13.3%, wheat 12%); carbohydrate facts (banana highest, 4.1 kcal/g, maltose → glucose in the small intestine); enzymes as protein catalysts; balanced-diet definition (food nutrients for growth and maintenance).
• Food sources, minerals & water — 3 questions after cleaning: lactometer → milk (asked twice); guava as a rich source (of vitamin C, asked without the word “vitamin” in the question).
• Vitamin-deficiency diseases — 16 questions, also serving Chapter 4: anaemia (iron) asked five ways; goitre (iodine) asked three ways; scurvy (vitamin C) asked three ways including “anti-scurvy factor”; beriberi (thiamine) asked twice; rickets (vitamin D) and night blindness (vitamin A) asked repeatedly.
• Taught from the lecture, capsules and standard references, no direct site-bank question-text match in this run’s count: the full eight-name B-complex table (the banks name B1, B2, B6 and B12 in their keys), the KEEDA/KBDA mnemonics, the 50–60 g protein figure, the 8-glasses figure, the fat/oil 20°C distinction and the fibre–constipation line — the IBES Everyday Science capsule bank behind the chapter covers the vitamin rows. The practice set is filtered by tags at serve time.

12. Traps & confusions

• Guava vs orange — read the question: “vitamin C is richest in which fruit? → guava” (guava beats orange), but “the best source of vitamin C is? → oranges” is also a bank key where guava is not among the options. Where both appear, take guava; where only citrus appears, take orange. The fact is the same (citrus + guava are the C fruits); the key follows the options.
• Carrot vs egg for vitamin A: “which vegetable is rich in vitamin A? → carrot” and “the richest source of vitamin A → eggs” are both bank keys. Carrots (carotene) are the vegetable answer; eggs are the animal-source answer. Do not let one key cancel the other.
• “Only vitamin the body makes” — two answers, two routes: vitamin D is made in the skin with sunlight; vitamin K is made by intestinal bacteria. Papers ask each route separately (“synthesised by intestinal bacteria → K”; “produced by sunlight → D”). The lecture’s “only K” shorthand covers the bacteria route only.
• Deficiency of vitamin C → bone weakness (one bank key): one bank paper keys “deficiency of vitamin C causes → bone weakness” rather than scurvy. Both are true — scurvy weakens gums and bones (in children, scorbutic bone changes) — but the standard exam answer for vitamin C deficiency is scurvy. Take scurvy where it is offered.
• Anti-sterile factor wording: one bank paper keys the anti-sterile factor to “A-tocopherols” — the chemical family is tocopherol = vitamin E, and E is the sterility vitamin of the lecture. The “A-” prefix in that key is garbled option wording; the vitamin is E.
• Milk is not a vitamin C source: “which of the following is not a source of vitamin C? → milk” — milk gives K, B, D and A (KBDA), not C. The KBDA mnemonic itself prevents this trap.
• Water-soluble does not mean unimportant: B and C are excreted daily, so they must be eaten daily — the opposite of the fat-soluble storage logic. “Which vitamin cannot be stored? → C” and “which vitamins are fat-soluble? → A, D, E, K” are the same test from opposite sides.
• Scurvy, rickets, beriberi and night blindness live in two chapters: they are counted in Chapter 4’s disease set and in this chapter’s nutrient set because Chapter 4 teaches the disease and this chapter teaches the vitamin. The site filters by tags at serve time, so the overlap is deliberate, not double-counting in one set.
• Strays removed from this run’s count (log only): 5 food-source pattern matches were not nutrition questions (honey-flower trivia, “Man of Iron and Blood” Bismarck ×2, “Land of Milk and Honey”, “Milk of human kindness” idiom) and 6 nutrient-pattern matches were cell-biology questions (ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, photosynthesis, pancreatic insulin as a hormone, gastrin) — none of them is counted in the 122.

13. Memory tricks (lectures first, then clean professional hooks)

• KEEDA (insect): K, E, D, A are the fat-soluble vitamins — the insect that stores fat. B and C wash away in water — and in urine.
• KBDA — milk gives four: K, B, D, A all come from milk. One word, four vitamins, one source.
• SmaLL disaccharides: Sucrose, Maltose, Lactose — the small word holds the two-sugar family; Lactose is the Letter that is not a mono-saccharide.
• Scurvy = C: Scurvy and Citrus share the cure — vitamin C is the anti-scurvy factor (full sources in Section 2).
• Rickets = D for bones that bend: D = Daylight (sunlight makes vitamin D) and Defective bones. Night blindness = A for After-dark vision.
• Beriberi = B1, the first B: the first B vitamin’s lack gives beriberi — thiamine is B1, the number is the name.
• K for koagulation: the letter itself is the job — K clots. Spinach is the green source the papers always pair with it.
• Glucose C₆H₁₂O₆: six, twelve, six — the numbers double and halve (6 → 12 → 6). Memorise the formula as a rhythm, not a string.
• 8 glasses, 90% plasma, 55% of blood: water’s three numbers — 8 you drink, 90 in the plasma, 55 plasma in the blood. In that order they never mix.
• Funk 1912: Funk found the first vitamine in rice bran — beriberi’s cure hiding in the husk that polishing removed. Unpolished rice keeps B1 for the same reason.

14. Visuals (site build specs)

• INFOGRAPHIC — The master vitamin table: Section 2 rendered as a revision grid (vitamin → chemical name → source → deficiency), colour-coded fat-soluble vs water-soluble — placed in Section 2 for last-night revision.
• DIAGRAM — KEEDA vs water-soluble: two panels — fat-soluble vitamins stored in liver/fatty tissue (toxic in excess) beside water-soluble vitamins excreted in urine (needed daily) — placed in Section 1.
• INFOGRAPHIC — The balanced-diet plate: organic vs inorganic split (carbs, lipids, proteins, fibres, vitamins; minerals, water) with the lecture’s example foods on the plate — placed in Section 1.
• DIAGRAM — The sugar family tree: mono (glucose C₆H₁₂O₆) → di (SmaLL) → poly (starch plants / glycogen animals) with the lactometer beside lactose — placed in Section 5.
• DIAGRAM — The two self-made vitamins: skin + sunlight → vitamin D beside gut bacteria → vitamin K, the trap pair of Section 3 — placed in Section 3.

15. Practice this topic

• Practice set: 122 verified past-paper questions in the PPSC + FPSC banks are tagged to this topic’s sub-topics (vitamins A–K & chemical names 83, balanced diet & nutrients 20, food sources/minerals/water 3, vitamin-deficiency diseases also serving Chapter 4’s set 16) — the site serves them as this chapter’s practice set, with the IBES Everyday Science capsule questions behind them. Note for the build: the practice set is filtered by the topic’s subject+topic tags at serve time, so scurvy, rickets, beriberi, night blindness, anaemia and goitre questions serve both this chapter and Chapter 4’s disease set by design.
• Companion practice (Sections 5–7 additions): the PMS 2026 Biological Science mock’s nutrition items (glycogen liver/muscles, proteins = amino-acid polymers, lipids insoluble in water, fats 9 kcal/g) sit behind this chapter’s set, not counted in the 122; bankCount 122 unchanged.
• Book mode: ← Previous: Diseases & Medicine · Next: Physics in Daily Life (Everyday Science) →

Goldmine Notes · Everyday Science · Chapter 5 · Sources: EDS Lecture 2 — Spheres & Food Science (detailed notes, rechecked) for the lecture-taught vitamin table, KEEDA/KBDA mnemonics and food-science facts; verified PPSC/FPSC past-paper banks (122 topic questions, script-counted, hidden_files/goldmine-notes-count-eds05.py); IBES Everyday Science capsule bank behind the chapter; B-complex eight names and Casimir Funk 1912 “vitamine” coinage verified against standard references via web check. Standard answers only.