Vitamin C, Genetics and the Coronavirus Pandemic By Brian Simpson

     There is a thought-provoking article by Lance Welton at vDare.com, Welton taking the line that there are racial differences in the susceptibility to Covid-19 infection, with East Asian being at risk, Africans and White Europeans less so. In his latest piece he speculates about one hypothesis explaining this, being a genetically based proficiency in maintaining vitamin C levels in the blood:
  https://vdare.com/articles/coronavirus-and-vitamin-c-is-this-why-israel-closed-its-borders?scroll_to_paragraph=6

“This has been explored in detail by the health journalist Bill Sardi [Health Inheritance: Asians Have Lower Vitamin C Blood Levels; More Prone To Coronavirus & Other Infections, LewRockwell.com, March 7, 2020].
Maintaining healthy Vitamin C levels is extremely important. Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant, crucial because oxidization results in damage to cells and, so, a reduced ability to fight off infection. It is also crucial in repairing cells and maintaining a strong immune system. Vitamin C is obtained from certain kinds of fruit (most obviously oranges) and some vegetables, such as broccoli. People who don’t get enough of it are prone to cancer, heart problems, brain degeneration and, in extreme cases, scurvy. However, maintaining Vitamin C in the blood isn’t solely a matter of diet. Genetics plays its part as well. Some people can maintain a high level of Vitamin C without eating that much fruit at all. It depends on the form of Haptoglobin which they carry: Hp 1-1, Hp 2-1, or Hp 2-2. Haptoglobin (HAPTO-G) is a protein in the blood that binds to haemoglobin, this being the red protein in blood cells that carries oxygen and iron. Haptoglobin destroys excess iron, limits the amount of (potentially damaging) unbound iron, and reduces the amount of iron lost in the kidneys. Hp 2-2 doesn’t bind as well as the other two. The result of this is excess iron in the blood. This excess iron oxidates—rusts—in response to oxygen, setting off a process that also causes the Vitamin C to oxidate. This reduces the efficacy of the Vitamin C, causing the person with this form of HAPTO-G to have a less effective immune system.

There are race differences in the distribution of Hp 2-2. Chinese people are by far the most likely to carry Hp 2-2: approximately 56%. [Serum vitamin C concentration is influenced by haptoglobin polymorphism and iron status in Chinese, By Na Na et al., Clinica Chimica Acta, 2006]. People who carry Hp 2-2 are three times more likely to be Vitamin C deficient than people who carry the other two forms. The implication, of course, is that one way of fighting this virus is to consume lots of Vitamin C-packed fruit. This is obvious advice, but it helps us, potentially, to understand why Covid-19 has been such a problem in China. For genetic reasons, the Chinese carry a lot of iron in their blood, but this makes them deficient in Vitamin C. On this basis, we wouldn’t expect Covid-19 to be as damaging in Europe or the U.S. as it is in China. We also shouldn’t be surprised that areas of the U.S. that are particularly hard hit by Covid-19, such as New Rochelle, NY, a square mile of which was recently quarantined, have a significant Asian population (4.2% in 2010). [Cuomo Announces 1-Mile ‘Containment Area’ In New Rochelle, Closes Large Gathering Places There For 2 Weeks, CBS, March 10, 2020]. We shouldn’t be surprised that Harvard College—which is 23% (mainly East) Asian—has decided to close and offer classes exclusively online for the time being. We also shouldn’t be surprised by the extent to which Covid-19 has, and hasn’t, flared up outside China. It doesn’t appear to have been a big problem in Africa yet, a fact which many commentators—who can’t accept the existence of genetic race differences in anything other than skin color—have found very confusing.

But, then, Covid-19  shouldn’t be a big problem in Africa, because according to a huge meta-analysis [Haptoglobin: a review of the major allele frequencies worldwide and their association with diseases, by Kymberley Carter & Mark Worwood, International Journal of Laboratory Hematology, 2007], roughly 50% of Sub-Saharan Africans carry the vitamin C-helpful Hp 1 and in some African countries it’s as high as 70%. Studies from the United States reveal that 41% of Whites carry Hp 1, compared to 55% of Blacks, and 52% of Hispanics, but only 31% of Asians. In the Middle East, only 28% of Muslim Iranians carry Hp 1. And only 30% of Israelis carry it. … The differences in the frequency of Hp 1 are small within Europe, but its frequency is among the lowest in Italy, where it is 36%. It is 40% in Scotland, the highest in Europe. Now, of course, the key question is the population frequency of Hp 2-2, which is bad for vitamin C retention.  Unfortunately, I cannot find a study that includes this information for lots of countries. However, within Italy, though Hp 1 is 36% nationwide, it is only 30% in northern Italy [Distribution of Haptoglobin Subtypes in Continental Italy and Sardinia, by Claudio Santor et al., Human Heredity, 1983], which has been worst affected by the virus. It is incredible that this vital information is not discussed in the Main Stream Media and by the health authorities, to the point where the race of victims is simply being not being reported. We have so strongly conditioned to not think about race differences, by decades of indoctrination and intimidation, that we can’t even do so during what is turning into a very serious international crisis. To repeat: if Covid-19 is not an Equal Opportunity disease, that means our race-denying Ruling Class is frightening most people too much—and not warning some people enough. This will not merely cause unnecessary chaos—it will cost lives.”

     It is an interesting hypothesis, but again, one which will be tested in time depending upon how this pandemic pan out. I am keeping an open mind on most things in this area, because for once we simply do not have a clear mainstream or alternative position on this. We therefore need to have all bases covered. But, with any luck, this pandemic in the West might just kill off the New World Order, saving us a lot of blood, sweat and tears, which will be good given the level of deracination and emasculation today. Here is the take on this by former presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan:
  https://vdare.com/articles/patrick-j-buchanan-will-the-coronavirus-kill-the-new-world-order?scroll_to_paragraph=7

“It may one day be said that the coronavirus delivered the deathblow to the New World Order, to a half-century of globalization, and to the era of interdependence of the world's great nations. Tourism, air travel, vacation cruises, international gatherings and festivals are already shutting down. Travel bans between countries and continents are being imposed. Conventions, concerts and sporting events are being canceled. Will the Tokyo Olympics go forward? If they do, will all the anticipated visitors from abroad come to Japan to enjoy the games? Trump has issued a one-month travel ban on Europe. As for the "open borders" crowd, do Democrats still believe that breaking into our country should no longer be a crime, and immigrants arriving illegally should be given free health care, a proposition to which all the Democratic debaters raised their hands? The ideological roots of our free trade era can be traced to the mid-19th century when its great evangelist, Richard Cobden, rose at Free Trade Hall in Manchester on Jan. 15, 1846, and rhapsodized:

"I see in the Free Trade principle that which shall act on the moral world as the principle of gravitation in the universe—drawing men together, thrusting aside the antagonism of race, and creed, and language, and uniting us in the bonds of eternal peace." In the pre-Trump era, Republicans held hands with liberal Democrats in embracing NAFTA, GATT, the WTO and most-favored-nation trade privileges for China. In retrospect, was it wise to have relied on China to produce essential parts for the supply chains of goods vital to our national security? Does it appear wise to have moved the production of pharmaceuticals and lifesaving drugs for heart disease, strokes and diabetes to China? Does it appear wise to have allowed China to develop a virtual monopoly on rare earth minerals crucial to the development of weapons for our defense? In this coronavirus pandemic, people now seem to be looking for authoritative leaders and nations seem to be looking out for their own peoples first. Would Merkel, today, invite a million Syrian refugees into Germany no matter the conditions under which they were living in Syria and Turkey? Is not the case now conclusive that we made a historic mistake when we outsourced our economic independence to rely for vital necessities upon nations that have never had America's best interests at heart? Which rings truer today? We are all part of mankind, all citizens of the world. Or that it's time to put America and Americans first!’”

     The same needs to be said locally here, putting Australia first, second and third, too.