Question 7: the correct answer is Vitamin D. Got it? Award yourself 1 point.
Question 8 of 10
Which of these is NOT one of the five basic tastes?
Why, in question 7: Which vitamin does the body produce when the skin is exposed to sunlight?
The answer is vitamin D. The sun's ultraviolet light transforms, in the skin, a substance similar to cholesterol into an initial form of the vitamin, which is then activated by the liver and kidneys.
Why vitamin D matters
Vitamin D helps the intestine absorb calcium from food, which is why it is important for bones and teeth. Without it, even a diet rich in calcium makes little use of this mineral.
The amount produced depends on the time of day, the season, latitude, skin colour and age. Window glass blocks much of the rays that make the skin produce the vitamin.
Some foods also contain vitamin D, such as oily fish, egg yolk and fortified foods. Even so, for most people the sun is the main source.
The name vitamin comes from an idea from the early twentieth century: the biochemist Casimir Funk believed these substances were vital amines and combined the words. It was later found that not all of them are amines, but the name stuck.
