--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jst...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "shempmcgurk" <shempmcgurk@> > wrote: > <snip> > > I'm not a biologist or geneticist but I think that > > 10,000 years is more than enough time for a species > > to select genetic traits. So I think you strengthen > > my point by reminding us that it's "only" been > > 10,000 years that dairy has been a part of the human > > diet. > > In fact, in populations that continued to drink milk > beyond weaning age, there *has* been genetic > adaptation, at least with regard to lactose intolerance. > But dairy has not been part of the human diet universally > by any means since 10,000 years ago, so the gene that > turns off the ability to digest lactose after weaning > persists, in widely varying percentages among groups > with common ancestry (Ashkenazi Jews and others of > Northern European ancestry, for example, have a very > low percentage of lactose intolerance, whereas African > Americans have a very high percentage). >
I wonder what it is amongst the Japanese who, I understand, had a non- existant dairy-based diet until recently (it was largely fish and rice based).
