Medical Laboratory and Biomedical Science: The milk revolution - Only 35% of the human population can digest lactose

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The milk revolution - Only 35% of the human population can digest lactose

When a single genetic mutation first let ancient Europeans drink milk, it set the stage for a continental upheaval.

Young children almost universally produce lactase and can digest the lactose in their mother's milk. But as they mature, most switch off the lactase gene. Only 35% of the human population can digest lactose beyond the age of about seven or eight. “If you're lactose intolerant and you drink half a pint of milk, you're going to be really ill. Explosive diarrhoea — dysentery essentially,” says Oliver Craig, an archaeologist at the University of York, UK. “I'm not saying it's lethal, but it's quite unpleasant.”

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The milk revolution