Lactose intolerance linked to ancestral environment [Darwinian medicine]

Medical News Today ^ | 02 June 2005 | Staff

[ZULU]

My ancestors come from Europe and get these terrible cramps whenever I hear Democrats talking.

Does this mean Democrats drink more milk than Republicans?

[PatrickHenry]

I don't see Darwin in here at all.

I do. Think of Darwin's finches. Some had long beaks, which assisted them in exploiting a new food supply. They flourished, and passed their long beaks on to the next generation. Instead of beak size, substitute lactose tolerance. Some people had it, and found it advantageous to herd dairy animals. They moved where their animals would thrive. Others, without that genetic tweak, didn't. It's the same principle.

"Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends."

Source: Journal of a Voyage in HMS Beagle.

[Vaquero]

"Pure and unadulterated BS. Many peoples of equatorial Africa for centuries have had milk as a main source of their diet. Some fermented it, mixed it with cereal grains, some still today relish a mixture of cow's blood and milk, which they have drank since time immemorial. " yeah seems to me I have seen documentaries on these Masai people who drink cows milk and blood.

[GloriaJane]

I think you've got it right!

[MRMEAN]

The "alcohol milk" we drink here in Maine is a little different: It's Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy and Milk.

While too much wine will make your stomach too acidic and too much straight booze makes you pass out, brandy and milk keeps people going all night,'' Connolly says. ''And the high amounts of sugar and caffeine in this stuff keeps people wired.''

Police, prosecutors and defense attorneys often joke that if not for Allen's and the milk it's mixed with, a lot of Mainers wouldn't get their daily dose of vitamin D.

[RemainCALM]

Cow's milk contains lactose but goat's milk does not. Cow's milk and cheese derived from cow's milk kills me, but I can eat all the goat's milk feta cheese I want without a problem. There probably are other mammals whose milk does not contain lactose.

[Wuli]

Your example is exactly the kind of information that is supposed to make real scientists remember that simple corellation is not causation.

I would bet that you could take a group of children from the predominately lactose tolerant groups. Starting from infancy, get them off of milk at a very young age and keep them off until their mid-twenties. I'd bet they'd be lactose intolerant.

I would bet the population groups that they say are lactose tolerant genetically are simply that way today because their families still use milk as generously throughout their life as their ancestors did. Their gut keeps a healthy supply of the right bugs to digest it, cause they keep milk in their diet. Raise their kids without milk and I'd bet they'd be as lactose intolerant as the Chinese seem to be.

There are those individuals everywhere in the world who are born without the right genes to digest milk ever, even mothers milk. They are the exception. I think the whole thing is what your body learns to respond to from a young age and continuing intp adult hood - for the most part.

[blam]

"I would bet that you could take a group of children from the predominately lactose tolerant groups. Starting from infancy, get them off of milk at a very young age and keep them off until their mid-twenties. I'd bet they'd be lactose intolerant."

I don't want to argue about it but, I disagree. It's more than intestinal bacteria, IMO.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

"A major challenge in interpreting the data, Sherman noted, was to resolve the puzzle that about 13 lactose-tolerant populations live side-by-side with lactose-intolerant populations in some parts of Africa and the Middle East. "The most likely explanation is nomadism," Sherman concluded. All 13 of the populations that can digest dairy yet live in areas that are primarily lactose intolerant were historically migratory groups that moved seasonally, Sherman said."

At the beginning of 1700 when the Boers began expanding into the South African interior, they encountered large villages of the Native inhabitants who violently resisted giving up their homes and "grazing" lands. It would seem three centuries ago African Natives had a use for that "grazing" land, maybe like for their own cattle.

[JimSEA]

Sounds as though it smells pretty good too.

[org.whodat]

Pure and unadulterated BS.

It seems to me that a lot of the little young pup's just out of collage and/or in collage don't know __it, about the history of the world. People in Africa, not only drink cow's milk, but they drink camel's milk, goat milk, and mare's milk. And I guess they have been doing it for year's. So I guess you nailed it.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"if I can tolerate milk before it's pasteurized but not be able to tolerate if after the process"

Bingo! Pasteurization and homogenation change milk into an unnatural substance. It is no wonder so many have become 'lactose intolerant'. The 'Promised Land', a 'land flowing with milk and honey' does not suggest that milk is a bad thing. But that was not Pasteurized and Homogenized'. Many who are 'lactose intolerant' have found that they can enjoy raw milk, as it comes from the cow.

Pasteurization kills/changes/immobilizes a lot of friendly stuff in milk. Homogenation changes the fat into deadly particles that do nasty things to our bodies if we are foolish enough to drink it. Not all states require that milk be pasteurized, by the way. Any who live where it is legal for raw milk to be sold might want to check it out.

Raw milk keeps longer than the pasteurized stuff. In studies, raw milk causes less illness than pasteurized milk, by a wide margin. Many men with cardiovascular problems have been milk drinkers (pasteurized and homogenized).

Many states that require that milk sold be pasteurized do not require pasteurization for making cheese. This might be why some with an intolerance to milk can eat cheese without a problem. The only thing better than dairy products from fresh, raw milk is if the cows are grazed, not grain fed. Grazed cows produce butter fat that is high in omega 3's, an unsaturated fat that is good for us.

[blam]

"Many states that require that milk sold be pasteurized do not require pasteurization for making cheese. This might be why some with an intolerance to milk can eat cheese without a problem."

See my post #36. Maybe that's why I don't have a problem with milk but do with cheese. Hmmm?

[cyborg]

Most Middle Easterners drank goat milk in the Bible anyway. A person allergic to cow milk usually can handle goat and it's not as mucus forming. Store milk that has been boiled and all the rest is worthless imho.

[cyborg]

Here they call fermented milk 'kefir'. It's very good.

[Ditter]

I'm with you! Hummmmmm milk GOOD!

[fortunecookie]

Well, I'm not sure I agree with the theory or not. But it could be one errant ancestor who passed their 'intolerant' genes to you. My grandparents were all immigrants. 3 from Eastern Europe and Russia, and the other further east, somewhere where Russia and Western Asia meet. My 3 blondish, fair siblings love milk. Drink it in huge quantities. Me, the 'dark' one, not only inherited my grandfather's severe allergies but I'm also lactose intolerant. We've long suspected that other aspects of the 'new world' diet have adversely affected the health of some family members, considering what was known about relatives abroad. I suspect my mother, while never officially diagnosed, was also lactose intolerant, based on her milk reactions. But the 'fermented' dairy products and those from sheep/goats - yogurt, kefir and some cheeses are my friends. Even acidophulus milk. For 'regular' cow dairy, I, too, cramp up and am miserable. I love pizza and ice cream, but pay for it.

[jennyp]

Here they call fermented milk 'kefir'. It's very good.

I tried kefir once after reading in the Motley Fool about a micro-cap company in Chicago that makes it. My God, that stuff is horrible!

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

"It seems to me that a lot of the little young pup's just out of collage and/or in collage don't know __it, about the history of the world. People in Africa, not only drink cow's milk, but they drink camel's milk, goat milk, and mare's milk. And I guess they have been doing it for year's. So I guess you nailed it."

No college for me, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.