This study shows that we have always struggled to digest milk, but still forced ourselves

When they tell you that men are strong … For thousands of years, Europeans have consumed dairy products even though they did not have the enzymes necessary for their digestion and therefore suffered from gastrointestinal disorders. This is demonstrated by a new study, as entertaining as it is uplifting.

Studying the digestion of milk in Europe over the past 10,000 years

For context, like most mammalian puppies, babies digest milk through lactase. This enzyme breaks down milk sugar into easily absorbable fragments. Once weaned, we normally stop producing lactase. However, many humans continue to consume milk, even adults. This, to the great misfortune of their insides, for some.

Others have a genetic mutation that allows them to continue producing lactase throughout their lives., so you can continue to digest milk easily. And this mutation could very well stem from a form of to force. Richard Evershed, a biogeochemist at the University of Bristol in England and his team (more than 100 scientists with different skills, particularly in genetics, archeology and epidemiology) have just shown, in a new study, published by Nature.com on July 27, 2022.

When animals, including livestock, began being raised more than 10,000 years ago, humans who continued to produce lactase were favored because they could consume this source of calories and protein. But those without lactase stuck anyway, causing stomach cramps and gas. In times of epidemics and famines, the consumption of milk could also participate in causing life-threatening diarrhea..

Dr. Evershed and his team specifically studied traces of milk fat on old jars, crossing its DNA with the DNA of old skeletons (to look for the genetic mutation around lactase), in order to estimate the consumption of milk and digestion over the past 9000 years across Europe.

For nearly 2600 years, Europeans have consumed milk without necessarily being able to digest it

The researchers found that thethe first traces of adults able to digest milk date back to about 6600 years ago, and that this genetic mutation remained very rare until 4000 years ago. This sums up the New York Times compared to the study:

“In other words, during these 2,600 years, Europeans consumed milk when almost none of them were able to produce lactase as an adult. “

But without even reading this study, you surely know people around you who know they are lactose intolerant, but can’t resist a piece of cheese every now and then … Man is a wolf to man, or rather: a glass of milk .

Front page photo credit: Imoflow via Pixabay