Question:medium
A fishy body odour can occur due to dietary deficiency of which vitamin?
A fishy body odour can occur due to dietary deficiency of which vitamin?
Show Hint
FMO3 needs a flavin cofactor that comes from this B vitamin.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Biotin
- Thiamine
- Riboflavin
- Vitamin A
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Link the smell to its chemistry. The fishy compound is trimethylamine, and the enzyme that detoxifies it is the flavin-containing monooxygenase 3, an enzyme that needs a flavin cofactor to function.
Step 2: Flavin cofactors, $FAD$ and $FMN$, are made from the B-vitamin riboflavin. If riboflavin is lacking in the diet, FMO3 cannot work well, trimethylamine builds up, and the body gives off a fishy odour. Hence riboflavin is the answer.
Step 3: This is the nutritional counterpart of the inherited fish odour syndrome, just driven by missing cofactor instead of a mutated enzyme.
Step 4: Set aside the rest: biotin assists carboxylases, thiamine assists decarboxylation and transketolation, and vitamin A serves vision and epithelium, with none feeding the FMO3 reaction.
\[\boxed{\text{Riboflavin}}\]
Step 2: Flavin cofactors, $FAD$ and $FMN$, are made from the B-vitamin riboflavin. If riboflavin is lacking in the diet, FMO3 cannot work well, trimethylamine builds up, and the body gives off a fishy odour. Hence riboflavin is the answer.
Step 3: This is the nutritional counterpart of the inherited fish odour syndrome, just driven by missing cofactor instead of a mutated enzyme.
Step 4: Set aside the rest: biotin assists carboxylases, thiamine assists decarboxylation and transketolation, and vitamin A serves vision and epithelium, with none feeding the FMO3 reaction.
\[\boxed{\text{Riboflavin}}\]
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