UPPSC 2019 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 86 of 150

Correct — B, Vitamin B2 - Cod-liver oil. This is the mismatched pair. Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is a water-soluble member of the B-complex, and its classic rich sources are milk and curd, eggs, liver and kidney, yeast and green leafy vegetables. Cod-liver oil is a fish-liver oil, and the vitamins it is famous for are the fat-soluble ones — vitamin A and vitamin D — along with omega-3 fatty acids. There is a shortcut hidden in the question: a purified fat or oil can only carry fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), because water-soluble vitamins such as the B-complex and vitamin C simply do not dissolve in it. So the moment you see a water-soluble B vitamin paired with an oil, the pair is suspect. The other three pairs are all standard textbook associations, which leaves (b) as the only wrong match.

• (a)Vitamin B6 - Rice bran — This pair IS correctly matched, so it cannot be the answer. Rice bran and rice polishings — the outer layer stripped off during milling — are rich in the B-complex, including vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) as well as thiamine and niacin. This is the same reason that a diet of highly polished rice was historically linked with beriberi: the milling throws away the vitamin-bearing bran.
• (c)Vitamin E - Wheat germ oil — This pair IS correctly matched. Wheat germ oil is the richest common natural source of vitamin E (tocopherols), which is why it is the standard textbook example and the base of many vitamin-E supplements. Vitamin E is fat-soluble, so an oil is exactly where you would expect to find it.
• (d)Vitamin K - Alfalfa — This pair IS correctly matched. Alfalfa (lucerne) is the classic source of vitamin K1, phylloquinone — it is the plant from which Edward Doisy first isolated the vitamin, after Henrik Dam discovered it; the two shared the 1943 Nobel Prize for that work. Green leafy material in general, and alfalfa in particular, is rich in vitamin K.

Vitamins split into two families by solubility, and that single property decides where they are found in food, how they are stored and how they are lost. The fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K travel in oils and fats, are stored in the liver and fatty tissue, and can build up to toxic levels if overdosed. The water-soluble vitamins — the whole B-complex and vitamin C — travel in the watery part of food, are barely stored, are lost into cooking water and are excreted in urine, so they must be eaten regularly. A question that pairs vitamins with 'rich sources' is really testing this solubility logic as much as it is testing rote lists.

You do not need to remember every food list to crack this. Ask which vitamin is water-soluble: only B6 and B2 in this set. Rice bran is a plant tissue that carries water-soluble B vitamins perfectly well, so that pair survives. Cod-liver oil, however, is a pure fat — it is the standard example of a vitamin A and D source, and no oil is a meaningful source of riboflavin. The trap works because cod-liver oil sounds so strongly like 'vitamin source' that students tick it as correct without checking which vitamins it actually carries.

• Fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, K. Water-soluble vitamins: the B-complex and vitamin C.
• Cod-liver oil is a classic rich source of vitamin A and vitamin D (plus omega-3 fatty acids), not of any B vitamin.
• Riboflavin (B2) is abundant in milk and curd, eggs, liver, yeast and green leafy vegetables; deficiency shows up as cracks at the angles of the mouth (angular stomatitis), a sore magenta tongue and eye irritation.
• Wheat germ oil is the richest common dietary source of vitamin E (tocopherol).
• Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) was first isolated from alfalfa; green leafy vegetables are its everyday source, and the vitamin is needed for blood clotting.
• Rice bran and rice polishings carry B-complex vitamins including B6 and thiamine — which is why polished rice diets were associated with beriberi.

• Reading the question too fast. It asks which pair is NOT correctly matched — three options here are deliberately correct.
• Assuming cod-liver oil is a source of every vitamin. It is the standard example for A and D only.
• Confusing vitamin E (wheat germ oil) with vitamin K (green leafy material and alfalfa) — both are fat-soluble and both come from plants.

UPPSC prefers the matching form — vitamin against source, deficiency disease or chemical name, often as a 'NOT correctly matched' question; UPSC leans towards the physiological angle, asking what a vitamin does or which food group supplies it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is the richest common natural source of vitamin E?

  • (a)Wheat germ oil
  • (b)Cod-liver oil
  • (c)Rice bran
  • (d)Alfalfa

  Answer(a) Wheat germ oil — it is the standard textbook example of the richest dietary source of tocopherols; cod-liver oil is the example for vitamins A and D.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which group contains only fat-soluble vitamins?

  • (a)A, D, E and K
  • (b)B1, B2, B6 and C
  • (c)A, C, D and K
  • (d)B12, C, D and E

  Answer(a) A, D, E and K — these dissolve in fats and oils and are stored in the liver and body fat, while the B-complex and vitamin C are water-soluble and must be eaten regularly.