What Are The Most Lactose Intolerant Places In The World? [Infographic]
Milk Zone via Nature Whether you can digest milk comfortably after childhood is a genetic fluke. For many people, the ability to produce lactase--the enzyme that allows the body to break down lactase, the sugar in milk--disappears after childhood, when we no longer need to survive on our mother's milk. Lactase persistence--the gene that allows about a third of adults to drink milk without major digestive pains--tends to break down geographically, as you can see in this infographic from Nature's history of milk tolerance. It's largely a European phenomenon, evolving from a single genetic mutation that occurred less than 10,000 years ago. As Nature explains: During the most recent ice age, milk was essentially a toxin to adults because - unlike children - they could not produce the lactase enzyme required to break down lactose, the main sugar in milk. But as farming started to replace hunting and gathering...