Nutrition
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141 free Nutrition trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
66 free nutrition trivia questions with answers. Sixty-six nutrition trivia questions that start where a classroom would: the MyPlate food groups, why carrots are orange, what a calorie measures, why bees make honey, and what actually makes a popcorn kernel pop. Those early questions are written as nutrition trivia for kids, so an 8- to 12-year-old can play along and get most of them right. Then the quiz climbs into the harder science of what we eat: which vitamins do what, the mineral behind goitre, the difference between soluble and insoluble fibre, glycemic index, complete proteins, and the deficiency diseases that shaped history. It works for a health class, a family quiz night, a nutrition student cramming for an exam, or anyone who wants to check what they really know about fuelling their body. Every answer has been checked against a reference source such as an encyclopaedia or a national health guideline, and the citation is shown under each question once you answer, so you can trust it in a classroom.
30 of 141 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which of these nutrients is classed as a macronutrient?
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates, protein and fat are the macronutrients because the body needs them by the gram, mainly for energy; vitamins and trace minerals are needed only in milligrams or less, so they are micronutrients.
Q 02What is a primary function of protein in the human body?
Building and repairing tissues
Building and repairing tissues is protein's central job: the body is always breaking its own proteins down and making new ones, so it needs a fresh supply of amino acids from food every day.
Q 03Which of these foods ranks lowest on the glycemic index, where glucose scores 100?
Lentils
Lentils score about 30, well under half the figure for cornflakes or white bread, because their starch is digested slowly, so blood sugar rises gently instead of spiking.
Q 04Which type of fat is generally associated with benefits for heart health?
Monounsaturated fat
Monounsaturated fat helps lower 'bad' cholesterol when it takes the place of saturated fat, which is why heart advice is to swap butter and other solid fats for liquid plant oils.
Q 05What is a key role of dietary fiber in the digestive system?
Promoting regular bowel movements
Promoting regular bowel movements is fiber's best-known job: the body cannot digest it, so it adds bulk to the stool and helps it pass, which prevents constipation.
Q 06Which of these minerals is a main building block of the hydroxyapatite in bones and teeth?
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the phosphate in hydroxyapatite, the hard crystal of bone and tooth enamel; that is why ground bone meal works as a slow-release phosphorus fertilizer.
Q 07Which characteristic defines a 'complete protein'?
It contains all nine essential amino acids
It contains all nine essential amino acids, the ones the body cannot make. Most plant proteins run short of at least one, but they complement each other, which is why rice with beans adds up to a complete set.
Q 08Which organ produces insulin, the hormone that lowers blood glucose?
Pancreas
The pancreas makes insulin in the beta cells of its islets of Langerhans; insulin lets muscle, fat and liver cells take up glucose from the blood.
Q 09Which of these vitamins is recognized for antioxidant properties that protect cells?
Vitamin E
Vitamin E dissolves in fat, so it lodges in cell membranes, where it hands a hydrogen atom to free radicals and stops them setting off chain reactions in the membrane's own fats.
Q 10Beriberi is a severe, chronic disease caused by a deficiency of which nutrient?
Vitamin B1
Beriberi is caused by a lack of Vitamin B1 (thiamine). It was common wherever polished white rice was the staple, because milling strips away the thiamine-rich outer layers of the grain.
Q 11Sunflower, corn and soybean oils are major sources of which family of polyunsaturated fats?
Omega-6
Omega-6 fats, chiefly linoleic acid, fill sunflower, corn and soybean oils; linoleic acid is one of only two fatty acids the body cannot make, so it has to come from food.
Q 12What is the primary function of Vitamin K in the body?
Aiding blood clotting
Aiding blood clotting is vitamin K's main job, and the K comes from 'koagulation'; newborns are given a vitamin K injection because little crosses the placenta and their clotting factors are low.
Q 13Which group of nutrients, often added to energy drinks, helps enzymes release energy from food?
B vitamins
Q 21Which type of cholesterol is nicknamed 'good' because it carries cholesterol away from the arteries?
HDL
HDL, high-density lipoprotein, ferries surplus cholesterol back to the liver, which removes it from the body; the larger lipoproteins deliver fats to the tissues instead.
Q 22Pellagra is a disease caused by a deficiency of which B vitamin?
Niacin (B3)
Niacin (B3) deficiency causes pellagra, which was epidemic in the American South in the early 1900s; Joseph Goldberger showed it came from a poor, corn-based diet, not a germ.
Q 23Which type of fat did the US FDA rule unsafe in its artificial form in 2015?
Trans fat
Trans fat raises 'bad' cholesterol while lowering the 'good' kind; in 2015 the FDA ruled that partially hydrogenated oils, which supplied most of the artificial kind, were no longer recognized as safe, so food makers had to drop them.
B vitamins work as coenzymes that help release energy from food but supply none themselves; an energy drink's kick comes from its caffeine and sugar.
Q 14Which vitamin greatly boosts the absorption of iron from plant foods such as beans and spinach?
Vitamin C
Vitamin C keeps plant iron in a soluble form the gut can absorb, so eating citrus, peppers or other vitamin C-rich foods with beans or greens raises the iron you take in.
Q 15Omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA are best known for supporting the development of which part of the body?
Nervous system
Nervous system: DHA is built into the membranes of brain and retinal cells and accumulates in the fetal brain in late pregnancy, which is why it is now added to infant formula.
Q 16In nutrition, what is a calorie a measure of?
Energy content
Energy content is what a calorie measures: food energy was first found by burning a dried sample in a sealed 'bomb calorimeter' and recording how much the surrounding water warmed.
Q 17Which type of dietary fiber forms a gel in the gut and helps lower cholesterol?
Soluble fiber
Soluble fiber turns to a gel that slows digestion and helps lower cholesterol; the evidence for oats was strong enough that in 1997 the FDA let them carry a heart-health claim.
Q 18Which of these foods has more potassium per serving than a banana?
Dried apricots
Dried apricots beat the banana comfortably, and so does a baked potato with its skin; the banana's reputation outruns it, since per serving it supplies only a moderate amount.
Q 19The human body can make which nutrient in its skin when exposed to sunlight?
Vitamin D
Vitamin D forms when the sun's ultraviolet B rays strike a cholesterol compound in the skin; at high latitudes the winter sun is too weak to do the job, so food and supplements must fill the gap.
Q 20A chronically high intake of which mineral is most associated with hypertension and cardiovascular disease?
Sodium
Sodium makes the body hold on to water, which swells the volume of blood and the pressure on vessel walls; most of it comes from packaged and prepared food, not the salt added at the table.
Q 24Which vitamin must strict vegans get from supplements or fortified foods?
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is made by microbes, not by plants, and reaches people through meat, fish and eggs; vegans are therefore advised to use fortified foods or a supplement.
Q 25Which enzyme in saliva starts digesting starch before food even leaves the mouth?
Amylase
Amylase in saliva begins splitting starch into sugars as you chew, which is why plain rice or potato held in the mouth slowly starts to taste sweet.
Q 26Which term describes how many vitamins and minerals a food supplies per calorie?
Nutrient density
Nutrient density favours leafy greens: when a CDC-journal study scored produce this way, watercress came top, while citrus fruits and berries landed in the bottom half.
Q 27Foods that supply energy but little protein, fibre or vitamins are said to contain what?
Empty calories
Empty calories come from sugar and solid fats that bring little or no protein, fibre, vitamins or minerals, which makes it hard to eat a balanced diet without overshooting on energy.
Q 28Which sweetener should never be fed to babies under a year old because it can carry botulism spores?
Honey
Honey can carry spores of the botulism bacterium; in a baby's immature gut they can grow and release toxin, so health agencies say no honey before 12 months.
Q 29Live bacteria eaten in foods like yogurt for their health benefits are known by what name?
Probiotics
Probiotics are live microbes taken for the benefit of the host. The idea took off around 1907, when Élie Metchnikoff argued that Bulgarian peasants owed their long lives to the bacteria in their yogurt.
Q 30Which macronutrient provides the most energy per gram?
Fats
Fat delivers about 9 kilocalories per gram, more than double the roughly 4 per gram from protein or starches. Alcohol sits between them at about 7.