Question

Deficiency of which vitamin causes the disease 'rickets'.

Answer 1

Hint: Rickets is responsible for causing the weakness in the soft bones of the children due to the deficiency of a fat-soluble vitamin which is mainly taken from the sunlight and it has a main role in absorbing various other elements such as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium etc.

Complete answer:
> The vitamin which is taken from the sunlight (major source) is vitamin D because it is synthesized in the lower layer of the skin epidermis which depends on the exposure of sunlight.
> Whereas along with sunlight there is some food supplement which consists of a small amount of vitamin D such as fatty fish, milk etc.
Rickets is a disease which is caused by less exposure to sunlight, a diet with less vitamin D, etc.
> If someone has rickets then it will be tested through the blood as the phosphorus, calcium, magnesium will be deficient because we know that vitamin D helps the body to absorb these elements.
> Due to the lack of calcium (Hypocalcemia), the bone will become weak and it will become susceptible to the fracture.
> Rickets can be diagnosed by the Blood test, bone density scan (reduced) and x-ray as it will show the tenderness of the bones.
> To overcome the problem of rickets, one should take a diet which is rich in vitamin D.

Note: There are mainly two groups of vitamin D which is essential for the human body i.e. Vitamin ${{\text{D}}_{3}}$, which is also known as cholecalciferol and vitamin ${{\text{D}}_{2}}$ which is also known as ergocalciferol. But this is the inactive form of vitamin D when they are metabolised in the liver and then in the kidney, they form calcitriol which is the active form of vitamin D.