Q 01/05

Eight of the 13 essential vitamins share which letter of the alphabet?

A) A

B) B

C) D

D) K

Answer · why

B) B

B: eight separate compounds share the letter, and the gaps in their numbering, such as the missing B4, mark substances that were struck off once they ...

Q 02/05

Which four vitamins are fat-soluble?

A) A, D, E and K

B) A, B, D and K

C) A, C, D and E

D) B, D, E and K

Answer · why

A) A, D, E and K

A, D, E and K dissolve in fat, so the body stores them instead of flushing the surplus out in urine, which is why heavy supplement doses can build up ...

Q 03/05

Who coined the word 'vitamine' in 1912?

A) Frederick Hopkins

B) Christiaan Eijkman

C) James Lind

D) Casimir Funk

Answer · why

D) Casimir Funk

Casimir Funk, a Polish-born biochemist working in London, built the word on vita, Latin for life, because he was convinced that diseases such as pella...

Q 04/05

Why did 'vitamine' lose its 'e' in 1920?

A) To make the word easier to trademark

B) To match the French spelling

C) Because not all vitamins turned out to be amines

D) Because a rival journal already used it

Answer · why

C) Because not all vitamins turned out to be amines

Because not all vitamins turned out to be amines: Jack Drummond proposed the trim once vitamin A looked amine-free, and in the same short note suggest...

Q 05/05

Without vitamin C the body cannot properly make which protein, so wounds stop healing and gums bleed?

A) Keratin

B) Insulin

C) Collagen

D) Haemoglobin

Answer · why

C) Collagen

Collagen is the body's scaffolding protein, and the enzymes that stabilise it need vitamin C; in scurvy the blood vessels and connective tissue weaken...