question about clicker question #9

9) Which is not true about humans’ nutritional needs?
a. adults must ingest 8 amino acids
b. infants must ingest 9 amino acids
c. a human being’s diet is similar to that of a cockroach
d. humans must ingest at least 1mg of vitamins/day
e. humans must ingest inorganic nutrients

Why is D not a true answer? I remember reading somewhere that the daily value of vitamin c is about 60mg so why is that not a correct answer?

I THINK (I'm not exactly sure) what he meant by the ingested dosage was that that was the excess vitamin intake through pill/supplement form. The take-home message that Dr. Wasserman wanted to give through this question was that overconsumption of vitamins is often bad. For ex., vitamin A overdosed in pill form is dangerous, while excess consumption of vitamin A through carrots is easily metabolized and excreted by the body.

But yeah, if he meant 1mg through any means of ingestion (supplements + food), that statement would be true. Does that help?

Brian is right. The key point that makes the answer false is that it says a minimum of 1mg. While it is true that some vitamins are needed in larger amounts than 1mg, 1mg may be a large excess for others. Because he didn't specify which vitamin was being taken, I believe the point was to remember that the range is 0.01mg to 100mg, not 1mg to 100mg, along with the fact that excess can be harmful. So you are correct in that some vitamins do needed to be taken in large amounts (greater than 1 mg) however it is not true for all vitamins which is why the answer is D. Hope this helps.