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Body & HealthFact

Tolerating milk as an adult is the exception, not the rule.

Worldwide, most people lose the ability to split lactose after weaning – that is the ancestral mammalian state. The variant rs4988235 in the MCM6 region keeps the lactase gene switched on. It is the derived, newer form and only reached appreciable frequencies in the last roughly 10,000 years.

Useful: It isn't intolerance that's the deviation – it's tolerance.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

ErnaehrungGenetik

Difficulty:

Question on this card

Genetically, which is the ancestral human state?

  1. Lactase persistence, i.e. tolerating milk
  2. Losing lactase after weaning
  3. Complete absence of lactase from birth
  4. Lactase only in women
Show the answer

Correct: Losing lactase after weaning

Losing lactase after weaning is the mammalian default; persistence is the newer variant.

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