What is the deficiency disease associated with vitamin C?

• A. Scurvy
• B. Rickets
• C. Pellagra
• D. Beriberi

Answer: (A)

Vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis because it acts as a cofactor for enzymes that hydroxylate proline and lysine residues. Without this process, collagen becomes weak, so connective tissues in skin, gums, and blood vessels are fragile. That fragility leads to symptoms like swollen, bleeding gums, easy bruising, poor wound healing, corkscrew-shaped hairs, and sometimes anemia. This collection of signs is scurvy, the deficiency disease linked to insufficient vitamin C. Replacing vitamin C rapidly improves symptoms, often within days. Other conditions mentioned come from deficiencies of different vitamins: lack of vitamin D causes rickets with defective bone mineralization, niacin deficiency causes pellagra with dermatitis, diarrhea, and dementia, and thiamin deficiency causes beriberi with neuropathy and heart problems.