Regarding disparities between men and women, the explanation I ran across is that women may be protected because they have 2 X chromosomes, rather than only one and very small Y. Looking at the statistics for women and men over 50 (when almost all women no longer menstruate) should answer that question. More men still smoke than women. It was particularly high in China. Another interesting aspect from my life—I used to have anemia all the time. When I read Adelle Davis and changed my diet and added supplements, one being 400 IU of Vitamin E for my developing varicose veins. The red veins immediately began to shrink. My mother had all her veins stripped at age 45. I am 81 and my legs are still fine and I have been taking 400 IU E for almost 50 years. I also found out that the life span of RBCs can vary from 85 to 115 days depending on health. I’m sure mine were living longer after nutrition improvement. I don’t know how that might affect Covid and heme.
The higher death rate for blacks and Latinos may relate to the reduced capacity to absorb Vitamin D through darker skin. Also lactose intolerance would reduce use of D fortified milk. I also found Vitamin C and other antioxidants are found in the lining of the lung, so extra C might help the lining as well as killing viruses at high enough levels. Then there is zinc and its use with HCQ. It is an elaborate orchestration that can be done, and hard to develop into clinical trials since we all have individual needs for all these nutrients. The C especially needs to be titrated to the level close to bowel tolerance which can vary greatly based on the individual and the amount and type of toxin/virus. I have used 24 grams in a day with flu and gave 50 grams to a women with anaphylactic shock from sting over 8 hours and neither of us had bowel symptoms. The Chinese clinical trials were saying 24 grams a day IV, and I think NY was trying 8 grams. Probably not enough in either case.
To my SPECIFIC question on use of high Vitamin C for Ebola at Google, this was the first link provided. There were others that referred to C, but this was first and I am listing it because of it’s references to WHO and prevailing attitudes toward all nutrition interventions. My own thought was that Ebola symptoms sounded like acute rampant Scurvy and would profit from very high C.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6924885/ “Despite the initially large number of papers with the key search term “nutrition” related to EVD case management, few explicitly described the details of the delivered nutritional support. Most clinical management papers delineated supportive care for dehydration and electrolytes through oral rehydration solutions (ORS) or intravenous fluid administration and did not refer to nutrition.”
“Perception of Nutrition Response - One descriptive qualitative study of key informants analyzed community perceptions of the nutrition-related response in Guinea (21). That study had 2 main objectives: the first was to determine how the Ebola outbreak affected infant and child nutrition on a community level, and the second was to gauge stakeholders’ perception on the acceptability and effectiveness of the nutrition response, including the WHO/UNICEF/WFP 2014 interim guidelines for nutritional care. A consistent theme across informants was the lack of emphasis on nutrition by health professionals and community members during the Ebola outbreak. Key informants also noted limitations around the use of the WHO/UNICEF/WFP interim guidelines; some informants were unaware of the guidelines or questioned their usefulness, and some reported finding the guidelines useful but difficult to implement. The authors recommended that nutrition be a core component of response and integrated into all aspects of care, treatment, and recovery.”
My takeaway from reading this is that WHO is going through the motions and has no real interest in improving the life of Africans. So who is formulating this negligent and shameful attitude—drug companies?? “WHO recommends that EVD patients should be provided with a minimum recommended daily allowance (RDA) of nutrients through normal traditional or fortified foods (1,16) or micronutrient powders (28). It also states that, until further evidence is available, excess use of any micronutrient for EVD patients is not recommended, unless correcting for a specific micronutrient loss (e.g., treating hypokalemia). However, in many EVD-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, is widely prevalent (29,30), and 1 RDA of, for example, vitamins would not sufficiently address existing suboptimal levels in EVD patients.” MINIMUM RDA—for shame!!
Just some of the mysteries of the female of the species which remain yet unknown...I suppose. :)