1/8 Had an interesting #COVID19 discussion with a black female coworker today. She insisted that because black folks suffer disproportionate all cause mortality, the American medical system is innately racist. So, here's a crash course thread as to why.

2/8 A key component of a robust immune system, apart from Zinc, Vitamin C, and Magnesium, is #VitaminD. VitD can be endogenously synthesized, reliant on both cholesterol levels & exposure to sufficient sunlight UVB; the latter of which is blocked by high eumelanin production.

3/8 Eumelanin is directly proportional to skin color, with higher concentrations = brown/black phenotypic expression. As melanin concentration increases so does protection of folate stores which are essential for DNA replication & cell division, notably fetal development.

4/8 How is this related? VitD being essential for healthy immune, CV, nervous & circulatory systems is higher in lighter skinned folks than in darker, inversely proportional to eumelanin concentration. Since low lvls are synthesized by the body exogenous supplements are needed.

5/8 This is also dependent on ApoE4 expression, which ensures that cholesterol (healthy kind) is elevated in the blood for efficient use of UVB that is absorbed. The trade off here is higher instance of CV disease & stroke in darker skinned individuals (connection to ACM below?).

6/8 Another item to note is cultural dietary choices - I wrote a public health paper on this in 2014 regarding obesity, CV disease, and all cause mortality in the black community, focusing particularly on #VitaminDDeficiency.

7/8 This is not a conclusive thread/biochemical analysis but enough information to show the potential relationship and hopefully inspire others to look into VitD, deficiency, & death rates from CoV2.
Selected sources to consider in the following Tweet:

8/8
Survival of The Sickest - Dr. Sharon Moalem

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16549493/ 

@foundmyfitness (Dr. Rhonda Patrick)

Outbreak - Beth Skwarecki

Human Errors - Nathan H Lents

The Cell: A Molecular Approach 5th Ed.

Biochemistry - Tymoczko

ADDENDUM: For the 3 people freaking out, the thesis of this thread is clearly the impact that ViTD deficiency as predicated by skin color has on CoV2 virulence, while satirizing that the US health system is racist. Read the thread, understand the thread, read the citations.