Impact of the lactose tolerance gene

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6397001.stm

"This is probably the single most advantageous gene trait in humans in the last 30,000 years."

Discuss the advantages of the lactose tolerance gene mutation. It's quite possible that the Caucusoid people wont have survived Europe's limited natural crops without developing the ability to drink cow milk. It may mean the ancestors to modern Europeans would have to migrate elsewhere in search of milder climates.

Any thoughts?

LacIntol-World2.png
 
well i don't have the bloody thing.
every time i have a bowl of porridge my bowels turns into porridge


(you don't want to know how long i have been waiting for this topic just to say that)
 
Hmmm, I think with any pastoral society any increased tolerance for lactose is going to be a huge advantage and will arise within such a group at some point.
 
Hmmm, I think with any pastoral society any increased tolerance for lactose is going to be a huge advantage and will arise within such a group at some point.

Even thought this trait has evolved OTL, 75% of humans are lactose intolerant today. There is no reason to think that tolerance is inevitable.

As to the original post, my guess is that people would still spread to the same areas as OTL but that the land would support smaller numbers of people. There might still be a Viking-like people, but there would be very few of them. Our history would stay dominated by the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Asia - Central and Northern Europe would be backwaters.
 
I don't remember where I ran across the phrase, but the expansion of Semites, Indoeuropeans and Bantu, could legitimately described as

The Attack of the Milk-drinking Mutants!
 
Lactose intolerance really isn't that important. Lots of Chinese people here in Singapore eat lots of dairy products. They're slightly more prone to indigestion or gas because of it but this is no big deal, really.
 
Yes but those who are tolerant descend from pastoral societies where milkproducts are a large part of the diet :rolleyes:

Even then, you can see that Indians, for example, are less lactose tolerant than Whites even though Indian food is just as dairy-centric (even more so since in many cases meat is religiously taboo and so dairy becomes the major protein source).
 
Lactose intolerance really isn't that important. Lots of Chinese people here in Singapore eat lots of dairy products. They're slightly more prone to indigestion or gas because of it but this is no big deal, really.
Only those who are extremely intolerant can't drink any milk at all. Most lactose intolerant people can drink milk in small quantities.

There are also technological solutions. Cheese and especially yogurt for example can be digested by by those without the lactase enzyme. In fact yogurt was invented by Turkic people probably because they were pastoral and lacked lactase. Another Turko-Mongol invention is kumis, an alcoholic dairy drink which uses up the lactose in fermentation. Modern dairies can reduce lactose or even add the lactase enzyme in their products. Perhaps milk in Singapore is processed in this manner?

The lactose tolerance gene allowed northern Europeans the advantage of being able to drink milk straight out of the cow without technological processing or wait time. In periods of famine these early Europeans would be able to survive on nothing but milk. The Romans used to marvel at Germans who drank milk straight out of their horses. Mare milk is very high in lactose and was used by the Romans as a laxative!
 
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Valdemar II

Banned
Even then, you can see that Indians, for example, are less lactose tolerant than Whites even though Indian food is just as dairy-centric (even more so since in many cases meat is religiously taboo and so dairy becomes the major protein source).

I'm sorry, I have a hard time seing any food being more dairy-centric than North European food. Dairy is used for everything, and every drop of milk is used, we even usethe restproduct (whey) of the production of buttermilk*, which is a restproduct from the production of butter.

*or cheese.
 
I'm sorry, I have a hard time seing any food being more dairy-centric than North European food. Dairy is used for everything, and every drop of milk is used, we even usethe restproduct (whey) of the production of buttermilk*, which is a restproduct from the production of butter.

*or cheese.

Yup, same thing in India.
 
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