Monday, 25 June 2012
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North Africans May Have Eaten Yogurt 7,000 Years Ago
It is a scientifically accepted fact that humans were, for thousands of years, lactose intolerant. The ability to process and digest dairy products was an evolved trait--most humans lost the ability to digest dairy after the age of five. New research published in Nature finds that dairy first entered the human diet in North Africa close to 7,000 years ago.
Shards of pottery covered with fermented fat from dairy products, which date from 5200 to 3000 B.C., were discovered in Libya's Acacus mountains at the Takarkori rock shelter. The rock shelter had colorful images of cattle being milked; the drawings are unable to be dated. As a result, scientists have dated the dairy to try to find the earliest point at which dairy was introduced into the adult human diet.Biomolecular archaeologist Richard Evershed of the University of Bristol, UK, who led the study with archaeological scientist Julie Dunn, shares that processing milk to lower the lactose content may have made dairy products more digestible since most people at that time had some level of lactose intolerance.Dunn shared with The New York Times that what North African were making is still unclear. “We can’t tell whether it was butter, cheese or yogurt," she said, "but we can tell they were processing it in the pots,” says Dunn.
These findings are crucial since the ability to digest dairy was a turning point in our history. Mark Thomas, a geneticist at University College London, explained in Nature:
"He speculates that mutations that allow adults to digest lactose, or lactase persistence, that arose around 6,000 years ago in Europe and later spread to Africa could have offered a unique benefit in a parching climate. Fresh milk is a reliably uncontaminated source of fluid, and people able to tolerate lactose may have stayed better hydrated than people without the gene."What do you think of this study? Are you surprised that humans were once lactose intolerant?
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- From: larabs@xanga
- About Me: I'm a Rutgers University graduate who discovered a passion for writing in college when I found myself enjoying researching for and writing papers instead of working at biology labs. In my spare time, I enjoy cooking and watching movies--I am in pursuit of learning to fluently speak French and Italian after developing an interest in these languages from watching foreign films. Apart from foreign films and cooking, my interests include photography, traveling, art history and interior design. twitter.com/sushbaral
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Comments (2)
Oh, but that's impossible, because the earth is only 6,000 years old!
(And if you believe that, you're a fucking idiot.)
Anyway, no, I'm not surprised. We're the only species that drinks the milk of another species, so why should I? After infancy the stomach dramatically reduces lactase production (the enzyme that digests lactose), so in reality we're all some degree of lactose intolerant. Alas, evolution at work, I suppose. We evolved to be less lactose intolerant (well, some of us, so much as one sip of milk gives me stomach cramps from hell).
I believe it: aged dairy products like cheese have less lactose in them and would be more tolerable for those of us with lactose issues. Also, some of the bacteria in yogurts creates lactase which would aid in digestion. If they were making butter, it also makes sense because lactose is a water soluble substance and virtually all the water would be removed during the butter-making process.
No one should be drinking milk. It's awful for you, and like secretbeerreporter@xanga said, we are the only species who drinks the milk of another animal. And I still don't handle dairy well, 6000 or whatever years later or not!