Claude systematically debunks the speculative EDAR-selenium hypothesis about East Asians
teortaxesTex · x · 2026-10-15
teortaxesTex speculated that the EDAR variant helps East Asians cope with ancestral selenium deficiency, and posted Claude's lengthy rebuttal. After searching the web, Claude dismantles the hypothesis point by point: no research links EDAR V370A to selenium status; the affected tissues (hair, teeth, sweat glands) don't match selenium-deficiency damage (heart, thyroid, fertility — Keshan and Kashin-Beck disease); geography argues against it (selenium-poor Finland/New Zealand lack 370A); the timing is wrong (the variant predates agriculture); and near-100% frequency can be explained by founder effects and bottlenecks rather than ongoing selection. On horses, Tang-dynasty state herds numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and historians cite other limiting factors.
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