Lactose intolerance may have an evolutionary advantage.
Humans were consuming milk in Europe 9000 years ago and its incorporation into their diet pre-dated the evolution of a genetic variant that facilitated digestion of lactose in adulthood, a study has suggested.
Consequently, the theory goes, the genetic variant behind lactase persistence was more likely to be passed on to surviving offspring through natural selection.The latest investigation, led by the University of Bristol and University College London , paints a more complicated picture of how humans in Europe and some other regions of the world overcame discomfort or illness from lactose intolerance to successfully incorporate dairy milk into their diet.
However, milk consumption increased and decreased in different regions at different times, reflecting instabilities in food production, fluctuations in population density, and cultural changes in dietary preferences.To understand how this picture might have led to increased prevalence of lactase persistence, the UCL scientists examined genetic data from 1786 prehistoric European and Asian people.
He explained: "If you are healthy and lactase non-persistent, and you drink lots of milk, you may experience some discomfort, but you are not going to die of it. However, if you are severely malnourished and have diarrhoea, then you’ve got life-threatening problems."
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