Question
Question: Which of the following, if taken excessively, can accumulate in the body and cause toxicity? A. Vi...
Which of the following, if taken excessively, can accumulate in the body and cause toxicity?
A. Vitamin C
B. Vitamin D
C. Vitamin B2
D. None of these
Solution
The vitamin which is water insoluble and fat soluble is very toxic if taken excessively. That vitamin is also called sunshine vitamin. The deficiency of this vitamin causes thin bones, brittleness in bones and misshapen bones which is called rickets. It also protects the teeth.
Complete answer:
From the above option, vitamin C and vitamin B are water soluble vitamins. The water soluble vitamins are easily excreted by urine. So they are not that much toxic and cannot be stored in the body.
But vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that means it only dissolves in oils and fats. So, it cannot go out from the body and is stored in the liver and tissues. If this is present in excess amount then it will be toxic to our body. Vitamin D is also called sunshine vitamin and its deficiency causes disease such as rickets and skin pigmentation. In rickets, bones get brittle and thin. This is a bone disease. Skin pigmentation occurs in dark skinned people because they are less efficient in making vitamin D due the melanin the vitamin D synthesis gets hindered.
Hence, option B is correct.
Note:
Vitamin D which is taken from the diet and from skin synthesis is biologically inactive. It’s activation is done by two protein enzyme hydroxylation steps, the first in the liver and the second in the kidneys. As vitamin D can be synthesized in adequate amounts by most mammals if exposed to sufficient sunlight, it is not essential, so technically not a vitamin. Instead it can be considered a hormone, with activation of the vitamin D prohormone resulting in the active form, calcitriol, which then produces effects via a nuclear receptor in multiple locations.