Scurvy is caused due to deficiency of

Each vitamin plays a specific role in the body, and a prolonged deficiency of a particular vitamin produces a named deficiency disease. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is essential for the synthesis of collagen, the structural protein that holds connective tissue, blood vessel walls, gums, and bone together.

When the diet lacks Vitamin C for an extended period, collagen synthesis fails and connective tissues throughout the body weaken. This produces the classic symptoms of scurvy: swollen and bleeding gums, joint pain, poor wound healing, and fatigue. This direct cause-effect link is why Vitamin C is the vitamin whose deficiency causes scurvy.

• Vitamin D deficiency affects bone mineralisation, causing rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, not the connective-tissue breakdown seen in scurvy.

• Vitamin K deficiency impairs the blood-clotting cascade, causing prolonged or easy bleeding, a different mechanism from the gum and joint symptoms of scurvy.

• Vitamin A deficiency affects the retina's visual pigment, causing night blindness and other eye-surface changes, unrelated to collagen or scurvy.