Posted on 04/01/2010 8:50:18 AM PDT by decimon
The hunter-gatherers who inhabited the southern coast of Scandinavia 4,000 years ago were lactose intolerant. This has been shown by a new study carried out by researchers at Uppsala University and Stockholm University. The study, which has been published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, supports the researchers' earlier conclusion that today's Scandinavians are not descended from the Stone Age people in question but from a group that arrived later.
"This group of hunter-gatherers differed significantly from modern Swedes in terms of the DNA sequence that we generally associate with a capacity to digest lactose into adulthood," says Anna Linderholm, formerly of the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, presently at University College Cork, Ireland.
According to the researchers, two possible explanations exist for the DNA differences.
"One possibility is that these differences are evidence of a powerful selection process, through which the Stone Age hunter-gatherers' genes were lost due to some significant advantage associated with the capacity to digest milk," says Anna Linderholm. "The other possibility is that we simply are not descended from this group of Stone Age people."
The capacity to consume unprocessed milk into adulthood is regarded as having been of great significance for human prehistory.
"This capacity is closely associated with the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies," says Anders Götherström of the Department of Evolutionary Biology at Uppsala University.
He serves as coordinator of LeCHE (Lactase persistence and the early Cultural History of Europe), an EU-funded research project focusing on the significance of milk for European prehistory.
"In the present case, we are inclined to believe that the findings are indicative of what we call "gene flow," in other words, migration to the region at some later time of some new group of people, with whom we are genetically similar," he says. "This accords with the results of previous studies."
The researchers' current work involves investigating the genetic makeup of the earliest agriculturalists in Scandinavia, with an eye to potential answers to questions about our ancestors.
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For additional information, please contact: Anders Götherström: +46-18-471 64 83; e-mail: anders.gotherstrom@ebc.uu.se or Anna Linderholm: +353-87 24 33 570; e-mail: annalinderholm@hotmail.com
Soothing the savage breast ping.
Maybe they still drank it a lot, but self-selected for enjoyment of farts.
In college, a quart of milk was my on-the-go quick meal.
I’ve heard that Chinese and other Asians tend toward lactose intolerance. Eating dairy is a European thing.
It was Bush’s fault!
Stone Age Scandinavians unable to digest milk
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Modern Scandinavians unable to digest Islamic immigrants.
In 5000 years maybe a scientist will discover that the Swedes once had blonde hair and were a different genetic group than the current Swedish population.
Lactose intolerance is almost unheard of, in the Subcontinent.
The bad news, they were not able to digest milk
The good news, they had no cows.
Good thing they could digest vodka.
The researchers’ current work involves investigating the genetic makeup. Well I guess it must be true how could data like that be wrong./s
Hm. Not one picture yet of Swedish Swim Team models. I think it ties directly into milk production and consumption.
This is the epitome of Cognitive Dissonance.
Showing that the “Aryans” really were invaders from the north?
Genetic studies have shown that the Swedish Bikini Team were girls from the United States doing advertisements for Old Milwaukee Beer.
Or was it Cliff Claven rather than genetic studies that showed it?
I can’t remember. Let’s ask an unbiased climatologist, someone we can really trust, to analyze the data.
“Look! Og drinking from Mastadon! Don’t he know that he will get tummy-ache?”
Well, then...dammit! Give me Old Milwaukee!
LOL! They might pull one of those little knives out...
I like the Finns. A lot of heavy drinking guys there...I’ve liked the ones I met.
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