Solving An Ancient Dairy Mystery Could Help Cure Modern Food Ills

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Scientists are trying to explain why people began consuming animals' milk before they developed genetic mutations which enabled them to digest it properly.

The mutations mean people produce lactase-an enzyme which breaks down milk sugars, called lactose-after they reach adulthood. Without the mutations, lactase production stops in childhood, which can lead to lactose intolerance.

"There is at least a 4,000 year gap between when we see the earliest evidence of dairying and when we see first the evidence of any mutations anywhere in the world," said Professor Christina Warinner, head of microbiome sciences at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany.

Only about 35% of the world's population today have lactase persistence mutations. They exist mainly in European populations-especially northwestern Europe-and their descendants, and in parts of the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

"If we can work out the evolutionary history and mechanics of lactose intolerance (how diet, human genetics, and gut microbes interact), we will have a powerful model for how to tackle other complex digestive disorders and food allergies," said Prof. Warinner.

[...] "The reason people were able to eat dairy before we had the ability to process lactose is because of fermentation," said Cheryl Makarewicz, professor at the University of Kiel, Germany.

"It shows the power of this kind of processing and how it can impact how your body reacts to different foodstuffs," she said. Fermented foods contain microbes which may also play a part in people's digestion.

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