In human nutrition, bleeding gums, loosening and falling of teeth, fragile bones, and delayed wound healing are classic signs of deficiency of which vitamin?

Introduction / Context:
Vitamins play essential roles in maintaining healthy tissues and normal physiological functions. Deficiency of specific vitamins produces characteristic symptoms. Bleeding gums, loosening of teeth, fragile bones, and delayed wound healing form a classic cluster of signs associated with one particular vitamin deficiency. This question asks you to identify that vitamin.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Key symptoms mentioned are bleeding gums, falling teeth, fragile bones, and slow wound healing.
• The options list vitamins C, K, D, B complex, and E.
• We assume standard deficiency syndromes from human nutrition texts.
• Multiple vitamins participate in bone and blood health, but one fits the full cluster best.

Concept / Approach:
Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, is required for collagen synthesis and maintenance of connective tissue, including gums, skin, and bone matrix. Deficiency of vitamin C causes scurvy, characterized by bleeding gums, tooth loss, bone pain, and impaired wound healing due to weak connective tissue and fragile capillaries. Vitamin K deficiency leads to bleeding tendencies but not the full pattern described. Vitamin D deficiency affects bone mineralization but not gums and wound healing in this specific way. Therefore, vitamin C deficiency is the best match.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall that vitamin C is essential for hydroxylation of collagen, which provides strength to connective tissues. Step 2: Understand that without adequate collagen, capillaries become fragile, leading to bleeding, especially in gums. Step 3: Weak collagen in periodontal ligaments and jaw bone can cause loosening and loss of teeth. Step 4: Collagen is also important in bone matrix, so its deficiency contributes to bone fragility. Step 5: Wound healing requires strong collagen deposition, so vitamin C deficiency delays this process. Step 6: Associate this cluster of symptoms with the disease scurvy, which is caused by vitamin C deficiency.

Verification / Alternative check:
Historical accounts of sailors on long sea voyages without fresh fruits and vegetables describe scurvy with bleeding gums, tooth loss, and poor wound healing. Treatment with citrus fruits rich in vitamin C reversed these symptoms. Modern nutritional references clearly list these signs under vitamin C deficiency and use them as key diagnostic clues. This evidence confirms vitamin C as the correct answer.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Vitamin K deficiency causes bleeding due to impaired clotting factor synthesis but does not typically cause loosening of teeth and specific bone fragility patterns linked to collagen. Vitamin D deficiency leads to rickets and osteomalacia affecting bone mineralization but not the pronounced gum bleeding and wound healing issues described. Vitamin B complex deficiencies cause neurological, skin, or anemia related symptoms depending on the specific vitamin. Vitamin E deficiency is associated with neurological and muscle problems in severe cases, not this symptom cluster.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes confuse vitamin C and vitamin K because both are mentioned in connection with bleeding. The key difference is that vitamin C acts mainly through collagen and connective tissue, causing gum disease and wound healing problems, while vitamin K acts on blood clotting factors. Remember that classic scurvy picture involves gum and connective tissue failure, pointing to vitamin C.

Final Answer:
These symptoms are characteristic of deficiency of Vitamin C.