Tagged: Evolution

12:59pm

Fri December 28, 2012
Food

Evolutionary Whodunit: How are adult humans able to digest lactose?

Originally published on Fri December 28, 2012 9:41 am

Credit iStockphoto.com

Got milk? Ancient European farmers who made cheese thousands of years ago certainly had it. But at that time, they lacked a genetic mutation that would have allowed them to digest raw milk's dominant sugar, lactose, after childhood.

Today, however, 35 percent of the global population — mostly people with European ancestry — can digest lactose in adulthood without a hitch.

Read more