Elizabeth Weise, USA Today, August 30, 2009
{snip}
Instead, people who are lactose intolerant can’t digest the main sugar—lactose—found in milk. In normal humans, the enzyme that does so—lactase—stops being produced when the person is between two and five years old. The undigested sugars end up in the colon, where they begin to ferment, producing gas that can cause cramping, bloating, nausea, flatulence and diarrhea.
If you’re American or European it’s hard to realize this, but being able to digest milk as an adult is one weird genetic adaptation.
It’s not normal. Somewhat less than 40% of people in the world retain the ability to digest lactose after childhood. The numbers are often given as close to 0% of Native Americans, 5% of Asians, 25% of African and Caribbean peoples, 50% of Mediterranean peoples and 90% of northern Europeans. Sweden has one of the world’s highest percentages of lactase tolerant people.
Being able to digest milk is so strange that scientists say we shouldn’t really call lactose intolerance a disease, because that presumes it’s abnormal. Instead, they call it lactase persistence, indicating what’s really weird is the ability to continue to drink milk.
{snip}
A long-held theory was that the mutation showed up first in Northern Europe, where people got less vitamin D from the sun and therefore did better if they could also get the crucial hormone (it’s not really a vitamin at all) from milk.
But now a group at University College London has shown that the mutation actually appeared about 7,500 years ago in dairy farmers who lived in a region between the central Balkans and central Europe, in what was known as the Funnel Beaker culture.
The paper was published this week in PLoS Computational Biology.
{snip}
Today, the highest proportion of people with lactase persistence live in Northwest Europe, especially the Netherlands, Ireland and Scandinavia. But the computer model suggests that dairy farmers carrying this gene variant probably originated in central Europe and then spread more widely and rapidly than non-dairying groups.
{snip}
The European mutation is different from several lactase persistence genes associated with small populations of African peoples who historically have been cattle herders.
Researchers at the University of Maryland identified one such mutation among Nilo-Saharan-speaking peoples in Kenya and Tanzania. That mutation seems to have arisen between 2,700 to 6,800 years ago. Two other mutations have been found among the Beja people of northeastern Sudan and tribes of the same language family in northern Kenya.
[Editor’s Note: “The Origins of Lactase Persistence in Europe,” by Mark G. Thomas, et al., can be read on-line here.
Original article
(Posted on September 1, 2009)
Comments
I didn’t even realize this until I became racially conscious and started reading the literature on human biodiversity. I had always assumed everyone drinks milk. We here in the Netherlands even have the saying ‘milk is good for everyone’ (it rhymes in Dutch). Guess not though.
I’ve been reading about this and people have lactose intolerance generally have it with pasteurized milk. I notice that this article fails to address the raw vs. pasteurized issue.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f05/web2/mmichalak.html
“If you’re American or European it’s hard to realize this, but being able to digest milk as an adult is one weird genetic adaptation. It’s not normal. Somewhat less than 40% of people in the world retain the ability to digest lactose after childhood. …. Sweden has one of the world’s highest percentages of lactase tolerant people.”
What’s this nonsense about whites being “weird” and “not normal”? It’s just one more instance of the incessant barrage of propaganda we are subjected to. It implies that we’re sort of the black sheep of humanity, the odd ones.
I love dairy. I eat so much cheese that I dont know what I would do with out it. Then again my genetic marker comes solely from Europe and is about 15,000 years old. I1a or M253.
If you want to expand your genetic and bloodline understanding check out Familytreedna.com
I read the entire article and found this:
“… These recent age estimates, when considered in conjunction with modern allele frequencies, indicate that −13,910*T has been subjected to very strong natural selection (s = 0.014–0.19; [8])…”
Does that mean Darwin was correct after all and Boas was wrong (race is a social, not a biological conceit)? And that there ARE differences between the races?
Who wants to tell the black racist head of the American Cancer Society who recently exclaimed: “Race is a sociological concept, not a biological category!”
When will this myth be put to death and ‘researchers’ in academia stop defending that the Earth is Flat?
On lactose tolerance Scientific American reports:
”..Pioneer farmers made their way north with domesticated crops from the Near East, he explains, but these crops were not necessarily well suited for the new environment…”
Lactose tolerance allowed the human population to move further north into an area with scarce resources. Milk provided a clean, convenient source of protein, calcium and vitamin D. Those who were lactose intolerant would not have been able to survive the environment.
I sometimes forget that DH is lactose intolerant. Not too long ago I made linguini alfredo for dinner with a nice cream-type sauce (sometimes it’s called heart attack on a plate). DH was sick the entire night after that with painful, debilitating cramps— I did not do this on purpose, as his family probably thought. I felt terrible after realizing how distressed he was and have been careful about feeding him anything with milk in it.
After seeing what lactose intolerance is like, I really believe that if milk were the only source of protein available, one would not survive.
Bon
The ability to digest milk into adulthood is probably more involved than just the need for vitamin D. Remember, by getting sun, even in the winter, the body produces vitamin D. And 7-8 thousand years ago people spent most of their time outside working. Whites are the most successful people on earth because we have the greatest impulse control. Delayed satisfaction allows us to plan for tomorrow. If I have a cow I can let her graze and produce milk, thus provding me with a source of protein year round. If I eat her I get a couple of good meals and then nothing. In addition, by periodically breeding my cow she continues to provide me with both milk and a new source of meat and leather. If I eat her she can not breed.
In Africa most tribesmen (not all but most) catch an animal and eat it. Think of the thought process, the planning, the observation of how and when animals produce milk. Animal husbandry is just another one of the white man’s contribution to a more comfortable life.
I really wish USA Today hadn’t printed this story….
As an older European-American who has enjoyed milk
Thoby
“The European mutation is different from several lactase persistence genes associated with small populations of African peoples who historically have been cattle herders.”
Numbers 14:8 “If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.”
Guess he didn’t have those lactose intolerant people in mind.
I always wondered about the seemingly sudden onset of widespread lactose intolerance that arrived back in the early 90’s or so - yet no one I knew had ever suffered from this. Nor did anyone I knew growing up suffer from this. I grew in an area about 97% White. I suspect I know why now. It is remarkable in how many ways Race really effects us every day. All the more remarkable since “race doesn’t exist,” of course!!
I’ve known this for a long time. That’s why I laugh every time I see the heartwarming Oreo or milk commercials featuring non-whites.
”..Pioneer farmers made their way north with domesticated crops from the Near East, he explains, but these crops were not necessarily well suited for the new environment…”
Lactose tolerance allowed the human population to move further north into an area with scarce resources. Milk provided a clean, convenient source of protein, calcium and vitamin D. Those who were lactose intolerant would not have been able to survive the environment.
—————————————-
I have no doubt at all that the lactose intolerant would not have survived for long in that climate and environment. Mother Nature is harsh and weeds out the unfit. She is unsentimental. It’s all about survival.
There are also differences when you consider is the milk pasteurized or not, and is it cows’ milk or goats’ milk.
I can’t tolerate pasteurized cows’ milk, but I can tolerate raw cows’ milk.
Even better: I can drink a fair amount of pasteurized goats’ milk. Someday I am going to locate and try some raw goats’ milk.
Lactose tolerance comes from North-Central Europe specifically. ALL peoples of this neolithic aged area shared the gene.
For the Europhiles and interested, Google/Wiki: ‘Funnelbeaker culture’…very fascinating!
Don’t you love how the article regards those of us adults who have no trouble digesting milk as being abnormal? Being white is now an abnormality.
Anyone else notice that if you go to the store, blacks tend to buy silk (Soy milk). I noticed this not too long ago while at the checkout and have since seen it repeated over and over.
I myself do not drink commercial milk due to the homogenization and pastuerization.
I will however go for the REAL stuff the way my forefathers and foremothers drank it.
It was only a few years ago that I realized that Chinese food does not have any dairy products in it whatsoever.
Personally, I do not know what I’d do without cheese.
Any genetic advantage pure Euros have is supressed http://www.geocities.com/endeavour_uksa/article.html
Stamp out (lactose) intolerance!
Istvan …
This article doesn’t reveal anything new to me anymore, but at one point I was truly surprised to find out that drinking milk was only tolerable for such a small minority. I had believed that being lactose intolerant was the exception, not the rule.
As someone with predominant Balkan ancestry, this article makes sense. Nobody I know in my family is lactose intolerant, and I myself love dairy products. While I believe that Northern Europeans probably DO have less frequencies of lactose intolerance, it is clear that this phenomenon pervades across most of Europe, as just about every European nation has some form of dairy dishes, and many different types of cheeses. Look at Italy!
In Britain the ‘milkman’ used to be a very familiar sight, and in the days before supermarkets and refrigerators virtually every house in every residential street would have pint bottles of milk left on the doorstep very early in the morning.
Well, I’ve been around plenty of “blacks” and zero had this so-called “issue” with milk. More propaganda. Hey everyone, turn OFF the TV & COMPUTER once in a while & read some real, pre-PC-era history. You might have to actually read old dusty books, if you can still find them due to the attempted ethnic cleansing from the commie, socialist leftists that seemingly rule every civilized nation now.
P.S. I’m not only a “southist”; I’m also an “Americanist”. A former Lincoln-hater, but I got over that in some past life.
I, for one, am planning to start “Milk Clubs” for those of us who enjoy our dairy products! No lactose intolerants allowed!
Milk is for small infants and baby cow calfs anyway. What the hell is the point?
Since when has lactose intolerance become a litmus test for Whiteness? Every one of my ancestors were Russians or Germans. My wife’s background is French. And yet both of us are lactose intolerant.
Is this some new “divide and conquer” tactic against Whites?
— Kenelm Digby wrote:
In school, as best I can remember, we were fed a half a pint of milk a day which we were REQUIRED to drink at “milk time”. I don’t remember anyone objecting or having a problem with it. It seemed a perfectly normal thing to do. But there were no blacks anywhere around back then — none.
This was well before the mania of integration hit us. And then the subsequent mania of miscegenation. And then mass immigration. It was another world! We hadn’t yet been blessed with “diversity”. If anyone suggested it, they would have been thought mad. The public still needed a considerable amount of softening up to get us ready for it.
“…Mother Nature is harsh and weeds out the unfit. She is unsentimental. It’s all about survival…”
Great point. Mother Nature also weeded out the unintelligent and selected for those who not only had an inability to plan ahead for the cold, harsh winters of the northern climates but were able to defend their hoards and their loved ones against marauders—both human and non-human. I believe this fighting spirit is in us somewhere but has been suppressed—it’s time to unleash it again.
On another interesting note, I found this (from the year 2000):
“…Researchers estimate that some degree of lactose intolerance affects 90 percent of Asian-Americans, 70 percent of blacks and American Indians, 50 percent of Hispanics, but only 15 percent of whites. Something called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has filed a suit against the federal government’s school lunch and breakfast program because under its guidelines all students who do not have a doctor’s note are to get milk…The Congressional Black Caucus and the League of United Latin American Citizens are among dozens of minority organizations that support the suit….”
I’m guessing the dairy industry won this time as milk is still freely served in the schools (skoolz)—although I’ve noticed in the past year that the kids are getting more and more Chocolate and/or Strawberry milk. I assume it’s to dilute the milk so it’s cheaper for the state.
Bon
This doesn’t feel like it should be a racial issue, but the author is trying her best.
I’ve seen people of all races willingly consume pizzas, cheeseburgers, milkshakes, ice cream. Mexicans certainly love their queso, crema, and cafe con leche.
Whites may be more adaptable to dairy products since it’s been in our culture for eons. Other peoples may not have had the wherewithal, for whatever reasons, to raise dairy cows and made do with the protein available to them. So why are they portraying the ability to tolerate dairy as an oddity? Apparently it is an anti-white thing trying not to be too obvious as such.
In response to 27, the flavored milks are made with out of date milk. It has soured and the chocolate or strawberry is used to disguise the flavors.
For some reason, I can taste the sourness much better than other people, and it also makes often makes me ill. Normal pasteurized or raw milk is just fine. Fresh raw milk seems easier on the digestive tract for me. Or cheese.
“Something called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has filed a suit against the federal government’s school lunch and breakfast program because under its guidelines all students who do not have a doctor’s note are to get milk…The Congressional Black Caucus and the League of United Latin American Citizens are among dozens of minority organizations that support the suit….”
I should know. As I was out of work and broke, I got many a free lunch that way.
Other posters:
It is only whites, and more specficially north european whites (and strangely enough, one ethnic group in africa who are cattle herders) that retain the ability to drink unprocessed milk.
Watch for it to become ‘racist’ soon, or have products radically altered to appease political correctness (as with ha-al laws for candies in the UK
I guess this would explain why Asian food is void of any dairy products which is one of the reasons I don’t care for it. I like food made with sauces, cheese and cream, food that is tasty and filling. Indian cuisine on the other hand does use dairy products so I wonder if the 95% lactose intolerant rate for Asians is accurate?
“…Mother Nature also weeded out the unintelligent and selected for those who not only had an inability to plan ahead for the cold, harsh winters of the northern climates but were able to defend their hoards and their loved ones against marauders…”
Sorry, that should read:
Mother Nature also weeded out the unintelligent and selected for those who not only had an ability to plan ahead for the cold, harsh winters…
Sometimes I’m my own worst editor—or it’s time to change glasses.
And from Kenhelm:
“…In Britain the ‘milkman’ used to be a very familiar sight…”
Maybe that’s because some of the children resembled the milkman!
(Sorry, couldn’t help myself)
Bon
White folks are the descendants of hundreds of generations of cattle herding, cattle raising people. Soldiers as we know them had their origins in those persons on horseback that had the duty of tending and PROTECTING CATTLE? The kshatriya warrior caste of India were the embodiment of this practice.
Where ever whitey has spread out all over the world, we find the pattern of the covered wagon, the herds of cattle, the search for fresh pasture and the cowboy, the gaucho, the trek boer, the jackeroo. An entire world-wide cultural phenomonon spreading outward and repeating itself over and over.
All as a result of a genetic mutation that allowed our earliest ancestors the ability to digest and metabolize milk in a waya that others cannot.
And along the way develop all sorts of food products that prolong the life of a perishable product. Cheese in all forms and manifestations, yogurt, butter, curds, etc. Remarkable
Jed: Also, pecuniary, an English word relating to monetary affairs -> pecunia, Latin for “money,” -> pecus, Latin for “cow.”
It makes me wonder why people use the redundant phrase “cash cow.”
The “dangers” of lactose intolerance are a lot like SIDS and AIDS and metal detectors in school. You keep hearing about the dangers of them in the mainstream media and you think you are at risk. Then you dig a little deeper and find out it only affects minority communities. So the “75% of blacks have lactose intolerance” becomes “lactose intolerance is a danger that threatens all of America.”
My point is, a large majority of American are living in needless fear of things that will never affect them. I’m never going to “catch” sickle cell anemia, I’m not going to get AIDS, I’m not going to be at risk of joining a gang - and therefore I don’t need to live in constant fear of it.
Brendan wrote — “It was only a few years ago that I realized that Chinese food does not have any dairy products in it whatsoever. Personally, I do not know what I’d do without cheese.”
The Chinese are said to loathe milk and all dairy products. (But I understand that pizza and ice cream are becoming quite popular there!) It can’t be solely a matter of lactose intolerance, but a strong cultural prejudice as well.
I recall an article in Natural History magazine some years ago, by the brilliant food anthropologist Raymond Sokolov who attempted to explain this. Among other reasons, it was speculated that since the hated Mongols who conquered China were (unlike the Chinese) a herding people who lived on the milk of their horses and yaks, the Chinese (who will eat nearly anything else!) were revolted at the notion of anything made from milk and have rejected it with disgust ever since as a food fit only for barbarians.
I understand that Chinese complain that Westerners smell of butter. We don’t notice it, but supposedly they can. And to this day, the Chinese say of something “smelling” of foreign influence, “It reeks of butter.”
I also recall sitting at a McDonald’s in Hong Kong, across from a Chinese family who were enjoying their breakfast pancakes. They were quite happy to offer me the little containers of butter (which I liked); but which they had shoved aside. It was, to them, like pork to a Moslem.
A multicenter study was carried out in India to determine the incidence of lactose intolerance in healthy volunteers from different parts of the country. The incidence was found to be 66.6% in the subjects from two South Indian centers at Trivandrum and Pondicherry. In contrast, the incidence in the subjects from a North Indian center in New Delhi was much lower, i.e., 27.4% (p less than 0.001). The lower incidence in the North Indian subjects may perhaps be due to the fact that they are descendants of the Aryans who have been dairying for long and are known to be lactose tolerant.
From : American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 34, 943-946, Copyright © 1981 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc
“North Indian subjects may perhaps be due to the fact that they are descendants of the Aryans who have been dairying for long and are known to be lactose tolerant.”
I’m half Eastern Band Cherokee and half Irish, and I inherited lactose intolerance from my mother’s side as well as my father’s side. My mother is full Irish from County Cork. Not all Europeans can digest lactose either. It doesn’t imply superiority or inferiority—it’s simply a trait that in modern times is meaningless.
Which is a good thing, considering many dairy products are very fattening. Nobody in our house consumes dairy unless it’s Lactaid milk or the occasional parmigiano (which I might add is free of lactose due to the aging process.) Other than that, we get Vitamin D from the sun and calcium from numerous vegetables & meats.
