Vitamins and Diseases

1. Vitamins — Complete Table (Extremely High-Yield)

Vitamin	Chemical Name	Deficiency Disease	Sources
Vitamin A	Retinol	Night blindness, xerophthalmia	Carrot, papaya, mango, milk, liver, egg yolk, green leafy vegetables
Vitamin B1	Thiamine	Beriberi	Whole grains, pulses, nuts, yeast
Vitamin B2	Riboflavin	Ariboflavinosis (cracked lips, sore throat)	Milk, eggs, green vegetables
Vitamin B3	Niacin	Pellagra (diarrhoea, dermatitis, dementia)	Meat, fish, groundnuts, whole grains
Vitamin B5	Pantothenic acid	Fatigue, tingling in hands/feet	Meat, whole grains, broccoli
Vitamin B6	Pyridoxine	Anaemia, skin disorders, convulsions	Meat, bananas, whole grains
Vitamin B7	Biotin	Hair loss, skin rash	Egg yolk, nuts, liver
Vitamin B9	Folic acid	Megaloblastic anaemia; neural tube defects in foetus	Green leafy vegetables, pulses, citrus fruits
Vitamin B12	Cobalamin	Pernicious anaemia	Meat, fish, eggs, dairy (absent in plant foods — vegans need supplementation)
Vitamin C	Ascorbic acid	Scurvy (bleeding gums, joint pain)	Citrus fruits (lemon, orange, amla/Indian gooseberry), guava, tomato
Vitamin D	Calciferol	Rickets (children), Osteomalacia (adults)	Sunlight (main source), fish liver oil, egg yolk, fortified milk
Vitamin E	Tocopherol	Infertility, muscle weakness	Vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables
Vitamin K	Phylloquinone	Delayed blood clotting/excessive bleeding	Green leafy vegetables; also synthesised by gut bacteria

Key distinguishing facts

• Water-soluble vitamins: B-complex and C — not stored in the body in large amounts, need regular dietary intake, excess excreted in urine.
• Fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, K — stored in liver and fatty tissue, can accumulate to toxic levels if over-supplemented (mnemonic: "ADEK").
• Vitamin D is technically a hormone (synthesised in skin under sunlight/UV-B) rather than a true dietary vitamin.
• Vitamin C is destroyed easily by heat/cooking (most heat-sensitive vitamin).
• Discovered/isolated first: Vitamin B1 (thiamine) by Kazimierz Funk, who coined the term "vitamine."
• Amla (Indian gooseberry) has one of the highest natural Vitamin C contents among common fruits.

2. Deficiency Diseases — Beyond Vitamins (Minerals)

Deficiency	Disease/Condition
Iron	Anaemia
Iodine	Goitre, cretinism (in children)
Calcium	Osteoporosis, rickets (with Vit D)
Protein (severe)	Kwashiorkor (in children — pot belly, oedema)
Protein + Calorie (overall)	Marasmus (severe wasting)
Zinc	Growth retardation, delayed wound healing
Fluorine (excess, not deficiency)	Fluorosis (mottled teeth, skeletal issues)

3. Diseases — Classification by Cause

Bacterial diseases

Tuberculosis (TB — Mycobacterium tuberculosis), Cholera (Vibrio cholerae), Typhoid (Salmonella typhi), Tetanus (Clostridium tetani), Diphtheria (Corynebacterium diphtheriae), Pertussis/Whooping cough (Bordetella pertussis), Leprosy (Mycobacterium leprae), Plague (Yersinia pestis), Pneumonia (often Streptococcus pneumoniae).

Viral diseases

Common cold, Influenza (flu), COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), Dengue, Chikungunya, Measles, Mumps, Chickenpox, Polio (poliovirus), Rabies, Hepatitis (A, B, C, etc.), HIV/AIDS, Smallpox (eradicated globally in 1980 — the only human disease eradicated so far).

Protozoan diseases

Malaria (Plasmodium species, transmitted by female Anopheles mosquito), Amoebiasis/Amoebic dysentery (Entamoeba histolytica), Kala-azar/Visceral leishmaniasis (Leishmania, via sandfly), Sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma, via tsetse fly).

Fungal diseases

Ringworm, Athlete's foot, Candidiasis.

Vector-borne diseases and their vectors (frequently tested)

Disease	Vector
Malaria	Female Anopheles mosquito
Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, Yellow fever	Aedes mosquito
Japanese encephalitis, Filariasis (some forms)	Culex mosquito
Kala-azar	Sandfly
Sleeping sickness	Tsetse fly
Plague	Rat flea
Typhus	Lice/mites

4. Modes of Transmission

• Airborne/droplet: TB, common cold, influenza, COVID-19, measles, chickenpox.
• Waterborne: Cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, amoebiasis (contaminated water/food — faecal-oral route).
• Vector-borne: Malaria, dengue, kala-azar (see table above).
• Contact/blood-borne: HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B & C (blood, body fluids), Rabies (animal bite/saliva).

5. Non-communicable / Lifestyle Diseases

• Diabetes mellitus (insufficient insulin action — Type 1: autoimmune, insulin-dependent; Type 2: insulin resistance, lifestyle-linked).
• Hypertension (high blood pressure).
• Cardiovascular diseases (heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis).
• Cancer (uncontrolled cell division).
• Obesity.
• Arthritis (joint inflammation).

6. Vaccination Basics (Exam-Relevant)

• Vaccines contain weakened/inactivated pathogens or their antigens to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies without causing full-blown disease.
• Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine (for smallpox, using cowpox virus, 1796) — the origin of the word "vaccine" (Latin vacca = cow).
• Louis Pasteur developed vaccines for rabies and anthrax, and pioneered the germ theory of disease and the pasteurisation process.
• BCG vaccine: for tuberculosis. DPT: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus. MMR: Measles, Mumps, Rubella. OPV/IPV: Oral/Injectable Polio Vaccine.
• Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) in India covers diseases including TB, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, hepatitis B, and more.

7. Common Confusions to Avoid

• Malaria is protozoan (Plasmodium), not bacterial or viral.
• Rabies is viral, transmitted via bite/saliva of infected animals (usually dogs), not bacterial.
• Leprosy is bacterial (Mycobacterium leprae), a common misconception treats it as viral or hereditary — it is neither.
• AIDS is caused by HIV (a virus); it is not itself the virus — HIV is the pathogen, AIDS is the resulting immune-deficiency syndrome.
• Scurvy (Vitamin C) should not be confused with Scabies (a skin disease caused by mites — a completely different, non-vitamin-related condition).

8. India's Public Health Programmes and Nutrition Policy (UPSC/Higher-Level Additions)

• POSHAN Abhiyaan / Poshan 2.0: India's flagship nutrition mission targeting malnutrition, anaemia, and stunting in children, adolescent girls, pregnant/lactating women — directly built on the deficiency-disease static facts above (iron for anaemia, protein-calorie deficiency for stunting/wasting).
• National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme: mandates universal salt iodisation to prevent goitre/cretinism — a direct policy application of the iodine-thyroxine link covered in the hormones note.
• Anaemia Mukt Bharat: targets iron-deficiency anaemia across the life cycle using the "6x6x6" strategy (6 target groups, 6 interventions, 6 institutional mechanisms).
• Mid-Day Meal Scheme (PM POSHAN): nutrition intervention for school children, frequently tested alongside vitamin/mineral deficiency facts in Mains GS2 (welfare schemes) and Prelims current affairs.
• Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) and Mission Indradhanush: India's vaccination drive covering 12 diseases (including newly added ones like Rotavirus, Pneumococcal disease, and Japanese Encephalitis in endemic districts) — an evolving list worth tracking for current affairs.
• National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP): umbrella programme for malaria, dengue, chikungunya, kala-azar, filariasis, JE — links the vector-borne disease table above to a live policy framework, and to India's malaria-elimination target (National Framework for Malaria Elimination, targeting elimination by 2030).
• One Health approach: an increasingly tested WHO-promoted framework recognising the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health — relevant to zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted from animals to humans, e.g., rabies, avian influenza, Nipah virus, COVID-19's suspected zoonotic origin).

9. Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases (Current Affairs Layer)

• Nipah virus: recurring outbreaks in Kerala, transmitted from fruit bats, high fatality rate — a frequently tested current-affairs disease with no vaccine yet available.
• Zika virus, Chikungunya, Dengue: Aedes-mosquito-borne, recurring monsoon-season current-affairs themes in India.
• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): growing global health threat from overuse/misuse of antibiotics, a major WHO and Indian National Action Plan on AMR (NAP-AMR) theme, frequently tested in Mains GS3 science-and-technology/health questions.
• Monkeypox (Mpox): WHO-declared public health emergency in recent years, relevant to global health governance questions.

10. UPSC Angle: Static-Dynamic Linkages

• Deficiency-disease facts (vitamins/minerals) are the static base for nutrition-scheme Mains answers (POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anaemia Mukt Bharat, PM POSHAN) — always pair the "what deficiency causes what disease" fact with "which scheme addresses it."
• Vector-borne disease facts pair with NVBDCP and India's disease-elimination targets (malaria by 2030, kala-azar and lymphatic filariasis elimination targets already set for earlier years).
• Vaccination/immunity facts pair with UIP, Mission Indradhanush, and (post-2020) India's vaccine diplomacy (Vaccine Maitri initiative) — a strong current-affairs-cum-static combination.

11. PYQ-Style Practice Pointers

• SSC/RRB pattern: matching vitamin to deficiency disease (Vitamin A–night blindness, Vitamin C–scurvy, Vitamin D–rickets, Vitamin B1–beriberi) — the single highest-yield table in this note; expect near-certain repetition across cycles.
• SSC/RRB pattern: matching disease to causative agent type (bacterial/viral/protozoan/fungal) — a frequent "odd one out" or "correctly matched" question format.
• UPSC Prelims pattern: statement-based questions on a named scheme (POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anaemia Mukt Bharat, NVBDCP) testing whether you know its target group, targets, or launch year — the underlying deficiency/disease fact is static, but the question is anchored in the scheme's current details.

12. Practice Questions (With Answers)

SSC/RRB style (direct recall):

1. Deficiency of Vitamin D causes which disease in children? (a) Scurvy (b) Rickets (c) Beriberi (d) Night blindness Answer: (b) Rickets

2. Which vitamin is synthesised by the human body when exposed to sunlight? (a) Vitamin A (b) Vitamin C (c) Vitamin D (d) Vitamin K Answer: (c) Vitamin D

3. Malaria is caused by which type of pathogen? (a) Bacteria (b) Virus (c) Protozoan (d) Fungus Answer: (c) Protozoan — Plasmodium species.

4. Which of the following diseases is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito? (a) Malaria (b) Dengue (c) Kala-azar (d) Filariasis Answer: (b) Dengue

5. Scurvy is caused by the deficiency of: (a) Vitamin A (b) Vitamin B1 (c) Vitamin C (d) Vitamin D Answer: (c) Vitamin C

UPSC Prelims style (statement-based/applied):

6. Consider the following statements regarding vitamins:
7. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) can be stored in the body and may accumulate to toxic levels.

8. Water-soluble vitamins are generally excreted in urine if consumed in excess. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

9. With reference to India's health programmes, consider the following statements:

10. POSHAN Abhiyaan primarily targets malnutrition, stunting, and anaemia among children and women.

11. Anaemia Mukt Bharat follows a "6x6x6" strategy targeting six beneficiary groups. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

12. Which of the following statements about the One Health approach is correct? (a) It focuses exclusively on human disease surveillance (b) It recognises the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health (c) It is applicable only to vector-borne diseases (d) It was developed exclusively for India's use Answer: (b)