People with diabetes have free radical copper that the ATP7A molecules cannot grab. That higher amount free radical copper is why they have a higher rate of Alzheimer's, and it also causes their bodies to prioritize zinc away from the immune system to remove free radical copper from the brain.[]
This competing for zinc leaves less to fight coronavirus, and is one cause for the increased mortality rate of people with diabetes type 2 from coronavirus.
---
This works the same way that men die more than women from Coronavirus. Men's bodies have to create testosterone for the muscles to work right, and that process uses zinc. Our bodies adapt to use up the available zinc in a thrifty or more wasteful manner, according to what the body is used to receiving.
Red meat is high in zinc and low in copper, a zinc antagonist, which means that when there is copper entering the body in excess, the zinc is used in removing it. There are ways to make that removal more efficient: histamine makes that process more efficient. Likewise there are ways the body has to make using zinc to create testosterone more efficient, when meat is scarce or unavailable.
In the Netherlands, where genetically people have relied on meat in their diet, men are dying and a higher rate. In India, my immediate choice to support my hypothesis, I found that men are dying less than women. In India, malnutrition has been a factor for generations, but more so, there are more vegetarians, and cows being sacred, they do not eat red meat.
In India, men's bodies have learned to pick strategies for creating testosterone that uses less zinc. This is genetic adaptation.
(As an example of genetic adaptation,
Golomb, B. The Starving Cell: Metabolic Syndrome as an Adaptive Process. Nat Prec (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2011.6535.1
https://www.nature.com/articles/npre.2011.6535.1.ris)
This is a major reason for the disparities between the rate of men and women dying from coronavirus, and why certain areas are worse then others according to their diet. There are other factors, but I believe this one is particularly useful, as far as treatment goes, in a way that political spin doctoring, reporting issues, and successfully implemented draconian measures (except as a good example) are not.
This was ignited specifically by finding the difference between the Netherlands death rate and India's.
© Deborah Barges, July 2020, reprintable and usable per open access rules.