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TNPSC nutrition, health and diseases: practice questions

By the PrepMatic team · Updated 9 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Nutrition and diseases are among the most practical topics in the TNPSC General Science unit, and the question forms are predictable: a deficiency and its disease, a disease and its cause or carrier. The unit as a whole carries about 5 of the 75 General Studies questions, so this topic is worth an evening rather than a week. The five questions below show how the paper asks. The wider syllabus view is in TNPSC General Science.

What this topic covers

• Nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, and balanced diet.
• Deficiency diseases: which missing nutrient causes which condition.
• Infectious diseases: disease, causative agent (virus, bacterium, protozoan, fungus) and carrier.
• Prevention: vaccines and public health measures.

Sample questions

Question 1

Deficiency of vitamin C causes:

• A. scurvy
• B. rickets
• C. beriberi
• D. night blindness

Question 2

Dengue fever is spread by the bite of the:

• A. Anopheles mosquito
• B. Aedes mosquito
• C. Culex mosquito
• D. tsetse fly

Question 3

Which vitamin is made in the human skin on exposure to sunlight?

• A. Vitamin A
• B. Vitamin C
• C. Vitamin D
• D. Vitamin K

Question 4

Deficiency of iodine in the diet causes:

• A. anaemia
• B. scurvy
• C. pellagra
• D. goitre

Question 5

Which of the following diseases is caused by a virus?

• A. Polio
• B. Cholera
• C. Typhoid
• D. Tuberculosis

Answers and explanations

1. A. Scurvy, with bleeding gums and slow wound healing, is the disease of vitamin C deficiency. Rickets is vitamin D, beriberi is vitamin B1 and night blindness is vitamin A.
2. B. The Aedes mosquito spreads dengue, and it breeds in clean, stagnant water. The Anopheles mosquito spreads malaria and the Culex mosquito spreads filariasis.
3. C. The skin makes vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, which is why a short time in the morning sun is recommended. The body cannot make vitamin A or C, and vitamin K is partly made by gut bacteria.
4. D. Iodine is needed for the thyroid hormones. Without it the thyroid gland enlarges, which is called goitre. Iodised salt is the usual preventive measure.
5. A. Polio is caused by a virus and prevented by vaccination. Cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis are caused by bacteria.

How to prepare nutrition and diseases

Turn the two tables above into flash cards, one fact per card, and review them in two sittings of ten minutes. For each vitamin, add one source: vitamin A in carrots and green leaves, vitamin C in citrus fruit and amla, vitamin D in sunlight, vitamin B in whole grains. TNPSC often asks for the source as well as the disease.

Group infectious diseases by the type of organism, then by the carrier. A line like "protozoan: malaria; virus: dengue, polio, measles, rabies; bacteria: tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid" is easy to memorise and answers questions in either direction. Add the mode of spread: air, water, food, vector or contact.

Public-health facts also appear, such as the vaccines in the national schedule and the aim of national programmes. Keep these to the basics, and treat any figure such as disease incidence or immunisation coverage as time-sensitive. For the body systems behind these conditions, use TNPSC zoology: human body practice.

Take the full topic test on PrepMatic

Revise this topic in a timed round with a PrepMatic topic test of about 15 questions and 30 minutes. It is a good use of a short weekday slot, and the free Basic plan lets you try 5 topic tests without a credit card. The result shows how you did in each subject so you can plan your next session.

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