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Class 6 Science — Vitamins and minerals

Tell vitamins from minerals, match each to the deficiency disease its long shortage causes, and say what the protective nutrients do.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

What each nutrient does for the body, and what goes wrong without it.

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  1. 1. Vitamin A → loss of vision
  2. 2. Vitamin C → scurvy
  3. 3. Calcium → bone and tooth decay
  4. 4. Iron → anaemia
  5. 5. Iodine → goitre

Each row pairs a protective nutrient with what a long shortage of it brings on. The disease is the clue that points back to the missing nutrient.

  1. 1.Sort each of these into vitamins and minerals.

    Groups: Vitamin · Mineral

    • Iodine
    • Vitamin A
    • Vitamin C
    • Iron
    • Calcium
    • Vitamin D

  2. 2.Match each nutrient to the disease its long shortage brings on.

    • Vitamin A
    • Vitamin B1
    • Vitamin C
    • Vitamin D
    • Iodine
    • Iron
    • anaemia
    • loss of vision
    • scurvy
    • rickets
    • beriberi
    • goitre

  3. 3.Which two foods does the chapter list as sources of vitamin A?

    • a) Pulses and eggs
    • b) Sugar and honey
    • c) Carrot and milk
    • d) Orange and lemon

  4. 4.Why are millets also called nutri-cereals?

    • a) They supply vitamins, minerals such as iron and calcium, and dietary fibre
    • b) They are the cheapest cereals to grow
    • c) They can be eaten without being cooked
    • d) They carry no carbohydrates

  5. 5.Bleeding and swollen gums, and slow healing of wounds, are signs of one deficiency disease. What is it called?

  6. 6.Common salt mixed with the required quantities of salts of iodine is given a two-word name. What is it?

  7. 7.Vitamins and minerals are needed in small amounts. What does the chapter say follows from that?

    • a) Nothing — they are still essential to keeping the body healthy
    • b) They can be left out of the diet safely
    • c) They are needed by adults but not by children
    • d) They matter less than carbohydrates do

  8. 8.In parts of India, swelling at the front of the neck was widespread until a change was made to common salt. What was the missing nutrient?

    • a) Calcium
    • b) Iodine
    • c) Iron
    • d) Vitamin D

Answer key — Class 6 Science — Vitamins and minerals

  1. 1. Vitamin A → Vitamin; Vitamin C → Vitamin; Vitamin D → Vitamin; Calcium → Mineral; Iodine → Mineral; Iron → Mineral
  2. 2. Vitamin A → loss of vision; Vitamin B1 → beriberi; Vitamin C → scurvy; Vitamin D → rickets; Iodine → goitre; Iron → anaemia
  3. 3. c) Carrot and milk
  4. 4. a) They supply vitamins, minerals such as iron and calcium, and dietary fibre
  5. 5. scurvy
  6. 6.
    • iodised salt
    • iodized salt
  7. 7. a) Nothing — they are still essential to keeping the body healthy
  8. 8. b) Iodine