Wednesday, October 24, 2012

How Lactose Tolerance Changed the World

For hundreds of thousands of years mammals could only drink milk for a few months following birth. After that, we all would have become lactose intolerant, as many (some estimates as high as 66%) people are today. But around 10,000 BCE something strange happened, a mutation occurred which allowed humans to drink milk our entire lives...and it may have made western civilization possible. Take a look at how lactose tolerance changed the world.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_evolution/2012/10/evolution_of_lactose_tolerance_why_do_humans_keep_drinking_milk.single.html

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