White baby born to black parents (not albino) , London 07/2010

A Nigerian couple living in London had a white baby who is not albino. Scientist cannot explain the phenomenon although they can confirm that the child is not an albino and biologically of both parents. Another proof of the relativity of race.

This may sound strange but I tend to link it to a recent scientific argument explaining the existence of white people in Europe. Last year I read an article in The Times stating that only 5500 years ago white people started to evolve from dark skinned people in Europe. Due to a sedentary life Europeans found themselves having less vitamin D in their food than hunters-gatherers. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient and a light skin is much more efficient in absorbing vitamin D from sunlight than a dark skin is.

In places such as northern Europe, where sunlight levels are low, the ability to make vitamin D more efficiently could have been crucial to survival. Vitamin D deficiency could be lethal. Research links it with heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and reduced immunity. Therefore people born as white could have had a greater chance for survival in places with few sunlight. Through time natural selection made what we nowadays call ‘the white race’.

Still, this findings have to be treated with caution as a lot of things are still unclear and based on presupposition rather than hard scientific facts (please read more here). The birth of Nmachi is only one little fact that could enlighten our biological understanding of human diversity.