NCERT Solutions Curiosity Chapter 3 Activity 3.4: Let us conduct a survey — — Fig. 3.5, vitamins, minerals and deficiency diseases

Book page 43 & 44 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

Study the chart given in Fig. 3.5 to explore the functions and sources of various food components. Find out more sources of vitamins and minerals. Also, understand the symptoms of the diseases caused by the lack of these food components.

Answer

First read Fig. 3.5 row by row. Here is the whole chart in short, with extra Indian sources added in the last column as the activity asks.

Component	Function	Sources in Fig. 3.5	Deficiency disease / symptoms	More sources you can add
Vitamin A	Keeps eyes and skin healthy	Papaya, carrot, mango, milk	Loss of vision — poor vision, night blindness, sometimes complete loss of vision	Pumpkin, spinach, methi, sweet potato, egg yolk, butter
Vitamin B₁	Keeps the heart healthy and supports the body to perform various functions	Legumes, nuts, whole grains, seeds, milk products	Beriberi — swelling, tingling or burning in feet and hands, trouble in breathing	Unpolished (hand-pounded) rice, ragi, groundnut, sunflower seeds
Vitamin C	Helps the body to fight diseases	Amla, guava, green chilli, orange, lemon	Scurvy — bleeding gums, slow healing of wounds	Tomato, mosambi, papaya, cabbage, drumstick leaves
Vitamin D	Helps the body absorb calcium for bone and teeth health	Exposure to sunlight, milk, butter, fish, eggs	Rickets — soft and bent bones	Edible mushroom, cod liver oil, fortified milk
Calcium	Keeps bones and teeth healthy	Milk/soya milk, curd, cheese, paneer	Bone and tooth decay — weak bones, tooth decay	Ragi, til (sesame), green leafy vegetables, small fish eaten with bones
Iodine	Helps to perform physical and mental activities	Seaweed, water chestnut (singhada), iodised salt	Goitre — swelling at the front of the neck	Sea fish, prawns, milk
Iron	Important component of blood	Green leafy vegetables, beetroot, pomegranate	Anaemia — weakness, shortness of breath	Jaggery, dates, bajra, ragi, chana, liver

How to read the chart quickly: the last two columns are the ones a doctor uses. Symptom → deficiency disease → the nutrient that is short → the food that supplies it. That chain, read backwards, is exactly what the rest of this activity asks you to do.

Q2.

Visit your neighbourhood, interact with people and find out if any individual shows the symptoms listed on the chart (an investigatory project of this kind can be taken by the students under the guidance of a teacher).

Answer

Do this only with your teacher's guidance, and be polite. You are a student collecting information, not a doctor giving a verdict.

How to conduct the survey:

Prepare a simple table: Name (or only a number, to protect privacy) | Age | Symptom observed or reported | What the person usually eats.
Ask gentle questions — “Do your gums bleed while brushing?”, “Do you find it hard to see when you step from light into a dark room?”, “Do you feel breathless after climbing stairs?”
Never touch or examine anyone, and never announce a disease name to the person.
Talk to 8–10 people of different ages so that the sample is not all children or all elders.

Sample entry: Person 4, aged 62, says her gums bleed when she brushes and a small cut on her hand took three weeks to heal. Her diet has rice, dal and a cooked vegetable daily, but no fruit and no raw salad. — This entry is exactly the kind of clue the next question asks you to use.

Q3.

Correlate these symptoms with their diet and identify the deficiency disease(s) or disorder(s).

Answer

Put each symptom beside the person's diet and use Fig. 3.5 to name the disease.

Symptom observed	What is missing from the diet	Deficiency disease / disorder
Bleeding gums, wounds heal slowly	No fruit, no raw vegetables → Vitamin C	Scurvy
Cannot see in dim light after coming from bright light	No carrot, papaya, milk, green vegetables → Vitamin A	Night blindness (loss of vision)
Tiredness, breathlessness, pale eyelids	Little green leafy vegetable, beetroot, jaggery → iron	Anaemia
Swelling at the front of the neck	Non-iodised salt, no sea food → iodine	Goitre
Soft, bent legs in a small child	Little milk, no sunlight → Vitamin D and calcium	Rickets
Weak bones in an elderly person, frequent tooth decay	No milk, curd, paneer, ragi → calcium	Bone and tooth decay
Tingling and burning in feet and hands, trouble in breathing	Only polished rice, no whole grains, pulses or nuts → Vitamin B₁	Beriberi

Careful — a symptom is a clue, not a proof. Tiredness can also come from a fever or from lack of sleep. That is why the last step of this activity is to send the person to a doctor, who can confirm it with proper tests.

Q4.

Suggest the possible cause(s) for the symptoms observed and changes required in the diet for improvement. Suggest them to visit a doctor for further advice.

Answer

For each person, write the likely cause, the food to be added, and then advise a doctor's visit.

Possible cause	Changes suggested in the diet
Shortage of Vitamin C	One amla, guava, orange or lemon daily; a raw salad; do not overcook vegetables
Shortage of Vitamin A	Carrot, papaya, mango, pumpkin, green leafy vegetables, milk
Shortage of iron	Palak, methi, beetroot, pomegranate, jaggery, bajra; take a Vitamin C food along with it
Shortage of iodine	Use only iodised salt; add it after cooking; singhada, sea fish
Shortage of calcium and Vitamin D	Milk, curd, paneer, ragi, til; morning sunlight for 15–20 minutes daily
Shortage of Vitamin B₁	Whole grains instead of polished rice, pulses, groundnuts, milk products

Then say clearly: “These are only suggestions from a school project. Please visit a doctor or the health centre for proper advice and tests.” A doctor may find another cause altogether, and only a doctor should prescribe supplements.

Tip: One general suggestion helps almost everybody — replace one packaged snack a day with a fruit or roasted chana. It costs less and adds vitamins, minerals and fibre at the same time.

Was this helpful? Report an error