Are The Celts Cursed? The Curious Genetics of Celtic People

The media have dubbed two small<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijlh.12347" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> genetic mutations</a> that cause hemochromatosis, a condition in which people absorb excess iron, as the<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-68155683" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> ‘Celtic Curse’</a>. The so-called ‘curse’ refers to two single nucleotide mutations that occur on the HFE C282Y gene. These mutations have a significantly higher incidence in people of Celtic origin, particularly those with Scottish and Irish roots. One small,<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10460595/#:~:text=The%20HFE%20gene%20and%20its,cause%20hereditary%20haemochromatosis%20(HH)." rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> early study</a> reported that 91% of Scottish participants with hemochromatosis were carriers of an HFE mutation. Further studies have reported similar findings. One brave team later took on the North Glasgow heart attack register — enormous, I am sure — and found that rates of HFE mutations in Scots from the west of the country were among the<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1767801/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> </a>highest prevalence worldwide. <a href="https://medium.com/illumination/are-the-celts-cursed-the-curious-genetics-of-celtic-people-1a7664e94580">Website</a>