Early Europeans Could Not Tolerate Milk but Drank It Anyway, Study Finds
NotSanguine writes:
The New York Times is reporting [archive link] on a new study charting historical human milk use and the mutations that allow (some) adult humans to digest lactose.
The study [abstract], published on 27 July 2022 in the journal Nature utilizes archaeological and genetic evidence to characterize milk use among (pre-)historic humans. From the NYT article:
In many ways, humans are weird mammals. And our relationship with milk is especially weird.
In every mammalian species, females produce milk to feed their young. The nursing babies digest the milk with the help of an enzyme called lactase, which cuts milk sugar into easily absorbed fragments. When the young mammals are weaned, they stop making lactase. After all, why waste energy making an enzyme you no longer need?
But it is common for our species to keep consuming milk into adulthood. What's more, about one-third of people carry genetic mutations that allow them to produce lactase throughout their lives, making it easier to digest milk.[...]
But a new study of ancient human DNA and milk-drenched pottery shards suggests that the traditional story does not hold up. "Something was not quite right with the received wisdom," said Richard Evershed, a biogeochemist at the University of Bristol in England, and an author of the study.
Dr. Evershed and his colleagues found that Europeans were consuming milk without lactase for thousands of years, despite the misery from gas and cramping it might have caused. The scientists argue that the lactase mutation only became important to survival when Europeans began enduring epidemics and famines: During those periods, their poor health would have exacerbated gastric distress, leading to life-threatening diarrhea.
I, for one, welcome our (not so) new dairy overlords. MMMM...dairy!
Journal Reference:
Evershed, R.P., Davey Smith, G., Roffet-Salque, M. et al. Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe. Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05010-7
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