**1. Introduction**

In the mid-19th century, Ireland's potatoes had fallen victim to the potato blight (*phytophthora infestans*). However, the epidemics of the potato late blight in this period were not restricted to Ireland. Also in continental Europe, the potato blight caused the Continental Famine (1844–1846) and—in the longer term—contributed to the European revolutions of 1848. However, it cannot be denied that Ireland was more severely hit than nations of continental Europe [1]. Since potatoes were the main source of vitamin C in the diet, scurvy is generally explained by a shortage of potatoes. However, the relative decline in potato harvest in 1845 in continental Europe was higher than the decline in Ireland [2]. On average, the human body loses ±3% of its vitamin C content per day, which severely limits the disease-free and survival time when subjects are on a diet poor in vitamin C [3]. Although scurvy is classified as a nutritional disorder or avitaminosis, only about 17% of the variance of the serum vitamin C concentration in humans can be explained by vitamin C intake [4]. The vitamin C status is not only determined by diet, but also by environment, lifestyle, biological and pathological conditions [5,6]. The present paper wants to highlight the impact of the particular genetic effects, which helps to understand the geographical distribution of the European mid-19th century famine.
