In the past, people did not know how to drink milk

A new genetic analysis of ancient people has shown that before agriculture and dairy farms developed over the past 8,000 years, people could not digest milk.

Although everyone drinks milk at birth, most people will lose this ability during the age of 2-5 years.

At this time, the body stops producing lactase eznyme to help digest the sugars found in dairy products. Most Asians, sub-Saharan Africans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders today still have this lactase resistance.

(Photo: marvistavet) However, a gene mutation in Europeans and parts of Africa helps them continue to produce lactase in adulthood, and in these regions, dairy products such as cheese and milk Sour is a major ingredient in the daily menu.

Researchers have long been unable to determine whether milk digestibility appears with dairy production or vice versa, dairy farms grow in those countries that are able to consume this milk.

Now, researchers at the University of Mainz in Germany and the University of London in the UK have found the answer after analyzing DNA from the bones of nine Neolithic people. These people came from all over Europe and lived about 8,000 years ago. The team found that a version of a gene that helps today's Europeans produce lactase was not among these ancient people.

The lack of this gene suggests that European farmers in the past had not been able to digest untreated milk . This is one of the direct evidence that natural selection has occurred in some ethnic groups, said study author Joachim Burger. "It shows a genotype that has almost disappeared 8,000 years ago and has become popular in more than 70% of the population today, through natural selection."

The study also adds evidence that people in central and northern Europe today are mostly descended from a part of dairy farmers around the 5th millennium BCE.

"The ability to drink milk is one of the most advanced evolutionary traits that Europeans have in recent times. Without lactase, adults who drink milk are more likely to suffer from diarrhea and swelling," said co-author. Mark Thomas said.

" The benefits of drinking milk include : it is a regular source of food instead of seasonal crops like other products, high nutritional quality and a safe drink due to not being contaminated by In general, it is the ability to drink milk that has been an advantage for ancient Europeans to survive, " Thomas said.

MT