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They're "adapted against milk" because their ancestors left Africa, and milk-drinking developed either in European humans, or we got it from Neanderthals.
by Sophistifunk 5y ago
They're "adapted against milk" because their ancestors left Africa, and milk-drinking developed either in European humans, or we got it from Neanderthals.
- thaumasiotes 5y agoThey're adapted against milk for the same reason everything else is: producing lactase has a cost, and it makes no sense to pay that cost when there is no lactose in your diet.
- folli 5y agoI think the common theory is that lactase production is stopped during early adolescence in mammals as a sort of safeguard to not compete with younger siblings for milk (when you're old enough you can get other food, while your younger siblings depend on milk). Some human subgroups (e.g. Europeans) are different, as they mutated to produce lactase even in adulthood (an evolutionary advantage in farming societies).