Most of the world's population can't digest milk!?

[VetLegion]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance

Approximately 70% of the global population cannot tolerate lactose in adulthood. Thus, some argue that the terminology should be reversed, lactose intolerance should be seen as the norm, and the minority Western European group should be labelled as having lactase persistence.

I thought this was important enough to warrant your attention. Basically, those of you who can and do drink milk are nothing more than curious freaks of nature. You didn't know that, did you?

The article says that Scandinavians and Brits are best at digesting milk, but almost one in five Finns can't do it. South Europeans aren't very good at it. Asians especially suck at milk-digestion.

Any thoughts about this important matter? And remember to vote in the poll!

[Skanky Burns]

I don't drink enough milk to test.

[Gangerolf]

what about cheese

[Snotty]

I drink milk fine and have met very few people who have told me they are lactose intolerant

[Donegeal]

Makes me fart, but thats all.

I guess that I'm just not an adult yet...

[Gangerolf]

could this be cultural? people who didn't drink milk when they were kids can't handle it when they become adults. kind of like obelix and the magic potion.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
what about cheese

I'm fond of stinking cheese myself. Supposedly, cheese is easier to digest. Romans noted that the savages in Britain drank milk unprocessed, while Romans used such milk for inducing vomiting

[Dr Strangelove]

Everyone drinks milk as an infant. On a worldwide scale most people lose the enzyme after reaching adulthood. My guess is that in cultures which have a long tradition of herding cattle for milk the ability to retain the lactase enzyme into adulthood was selected for. In cultures which did not herd cattle for milk there was no selective pressure for the enzyme to be retained in adulthood.

Real cheese has very little if any lactose, so people who are lactose intolerance can digest cheese. Synthetic cheese OTOH may have lactose in it.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I can digest milk... and once in a while have been known to enjoy an ice cold glass of moo juice .

[VetLegion]

Judging by this poll, this forum is full of freaks of nature

[RGBVideo]

old news -- I remember hearing this from my Jr. High biology teacher when I was still a kid

It's an old mutation from Middle East or Central Asia, formed when Uruk was still a young city. It has thrived in societies with cattle and agriculture, fat-filled cow milk is a good lifesaver after a bad harvesting season. Native Finns were still hunter-gatherers when Vikings had their cultural peak (circa 1000 AD), which explains the large difference between the populations of Sweden and Finland, two neighbouring countries.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

asians cant get a break - they cant digest booze either.

[VetLegion]

What about India? I think I've read somewhere that they have the largest number of cows in the world. They are also sacred animals, so they don't kill them for meat. But do they milk them?

[Gangerolf]

funny then that Mongolia's national beverage is fermented horse milk

[Terra Nullius]

Milk is stupid. Throw curds at it.