KS3 · Biology

Starvation and deficiency diseases

Two people are both exhausted. One has bleeding gums; the other has very pale skin and an irregular heartbeat. Two different diseases, each from one missing nutrient.

Biology · Nutrition

Which disease does a missing nutrient lead to?

Pick a card, then pick a disease. For a nutrient card: which disease can a lack of it lead to? For a food card: which disease does eating it help prevent?

Still to sort

Scurvy (0)

A lack of vitamin C

Where the line is: Tiredness is not enough to spot it, because anaemia is tiring too. Bleeding gums are the symptom listed for scurvy.

Anaemia (0)

A lack of iron

Where the line is: Also tiring, like scurvy. Very pale skin and heart palpitations are the symptoms that mark it out.

Rickets (0)

A lack of vitamin D or calcium

Where the line is: The one disease with two nutrients that can lead to it. Painful bones and deformities are its symptoms.

Kwashiorkor (0)

A lack of protein

Where the line is: A lack of protein can cause it. The symptoms listed are delayed growth and frequent infections.

11 of 11 still to sort.

A deficiency disease is caused by a lack of one particular nutrient in the diet. Four of them each have their own missing nutrient, and their own foods that help prevent them. Sort the cards before you read the reasons.

Watch out: Rickets is the odd one out: a lack of vitamin D or a lack of calcium can lead to it.

Biology · Symptoms

Which symptoms go with which disease?

For each symptom, tick every disease this lesson lists it for, then check your grid. 'No' here means the lesson does not list that symptom for that disease.

Fatigue
Bleeding gums
Very pale skin
Heart palpitations
Painful bones and deformities
Delayed growth
Frequent infections

Biology · Why it happens

?

Reason it through

How can the food available to people lead to a deficiency disease?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

Start at the beginning: what can stop people getting nutritious food?

2
Locked — reveal the link above first
3
Locked — reveal the link above first
4
Locked — reveal the link above first

Biology · Who is at risk?

Who can be malnourished?

A news report says a group of people are malnourished.

Which idea is closest to what you think right now?
How sure are you?

Biology · Put it together

Symptoms to disease to nutrient to food

Sam is a made-up person for practice. Sam has bleeding gums and feels very tired.

Name the deficiency disease Sam's symptoms most likely point to, the nutrient that is lacking, and a food that would help prevent it. Then say which symptom helped you decide between this disease and anaemia. [4 marks]

0 words · your answer stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Which missing nutrient causes which disease?

What you need to know

  • A deficiency disease is a disease that occurs because the diet lacks an essential nutrient. Deficient means there is a lack of those vitamins and minerals.
  • Malnutrition means not getting the right amount of the nutrients you need. It can come from too little food or from food that lacks nutrients, and it can affect anyone, anywhere.
  • Poor access to nutritious food has several causes, including processed-food diets, poverty, climate change and epidemics.
  • Scurvy comes from a lack of vitamin C, anaemia from a lack of iron, rickets from a lack of vitamin D or calcium, and kwashiorkor from a lack of protein.
  • Eating foods that contain the lacking nutrient helps prevent each deficiency disease.

The big picture

A deficiency disease happens when the diet lacks one particular nutrient. Scurvy, anaemia, rickets and kwashiorkor each trace back to a different missing nutrient, each has its own symptoms, and each has its own foods that help prevent it. Malnutrition is about getting the wrong amounts of nutrients, not just too little food.

Key points

1A deficiency disease comes from lacking one particular nutrient, so each one has its own symptoms and its own foods that help prevent it.
2Scurvy: lack of vitamin C. Symptoms include fatigue and bleeding gums. Citrus fruits such as oranges contain vitamin C.
3Anaemia: lack of iron. Symptoms include fatigue, very pale skin and heart palpitations. Iron is found in nuts, green leafy vegetables and red meats.
4Rickets: lack of vitamin D or calcium. Symptoms include painful bones and deformities. Vitamin D is found in mushrooms and oily fish; calcium mostly in dairy products, but also in green vegetables.
5Kwashiorkor: lack of protein. A person lacking protein can have delayed growth and frequent infections. Protein is found in tofu, beans, fish and meat.
6Fatigue is a symptom of both scurvy and anaemia, so the other symptoms are what tell them apart.
7Malnutrition is not only about too little food: food that lacks nutrients can cause it too.

Worked example

Problem

Maya is a made-up person for practice. She feels very tired, has very pale skin, and sometimes her heart does not beat in a regular fashion. Which deficiency disease do these symptoms point to, which nutrient is lacking, and which foods would help prevent it?

⚠ Watch out

Thinking malnutrition only means not having enough to eat. It means not getting the right amount of the nutrients you need, so someone can eat plenty of food and still be malnourished if that food lacks the nutrients.

🧠

Memory hook

Three Cs for scurvy: lacking vitamin C gives you sCurvy, and Citrus fruits help prevent it. For any other disease, ask the same question first: which nutrient is missing? That one answer points you to the symptoms and the foods.

✓

Check yourself

Fatigue shows up for both scurvy and anaemia. Give one other symptom for each disease that would let you tell them apart.

Flashcards

(12)
What is a deficiency disease?
A disease that occurs because the diet lacks essential nutrients. Deficient means there is a lack of those vitamins and minerals.
What is malnutrition?
Not getting the right amount of the nutrients you need. It can come from too little food or from food that lacks nutrients, and it can affect anyone, anywhere.
Name four things that can stop people getting nutritious food.
Processed-food diets, poverty, climate change (for example flooding moving people out of their homes) and epidemics that stop food moving around the globe easily.
Why can a diet full of processed foods cause problems?
Processed foods are high in calories and often high in fat and salt, but they lack many of the nutrients found in whole foods.
Not eating a balanced diet can lead to what?
Ill health, both physical and mental.
Which nutrient is lacking in scurvy, and which food type helps prevent it?
Vitamin C. Citrus fruits such as oranges.
Which two nutrients can a lack of lead to rickets?
Vitamin D or calcium.
Which foods are sources of vitamin D, and which of calcium?
Vitamin D: mushrooms and oily fish. Calcium: mostly dairy products, but also green vegetables.
Which symptoms of anaemia does this lesson list?
Fatigue, very pale skin and heart palpitations (the heart not beating in a regular fashion).
Which foods contain iron, and which contain protein?
Iron: nuts, green leafy vegetables and red meats. Protein: tofu, beans, fish and meat.
A lack of protein can cause which deficiency disease, and what two symptoms go with a lack of protein?
Kwashiorkor. Delayed growth and frequent infections.
Scurvy and anaemia share one symptom. Which, and why does that matter?
Fatigue. One symptom alone does not always identify the disease, so you look at the others.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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How this lesson was checked. This KS3 Biologylesson was published through Lightbulb Learning's human-designed editorial process — the educational standards, accuracy rules and publication checks it must pass were authored and approved by Philip Halpin. It passed subject-specific assessment, automated educational checks and technical publication verification before going live (publication checks completed 2 October 2026). Published pages are monitored, human spot-checking is ongoing across the lesson library, and anything found wrong is corrected or withdrawn. How our lessons are made and checked. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@lightbulblearning.co and we'll review it.