Question

Deficiency of which vitamin causes the disease 'rickets'.

Answer 1

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.