Mampires

[snousle]

An interesting article about the rise of lactose tolerance:

The rise of civilization coincided with a strange twist in our evolutionary history. We became, in the coinage of one paleoanthropologist, “mampires” who feed on the fluids of other animals.

Rather perverted, was it not? You might even call it "against nature". This is why we humans develop such distinctive and unusual obsessions: every now and then, they change the world.

Comments

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Indeed an interesting article. I for one am glad to be a beneficiary of this evolutionary quirk - I love dairy.

I have wondered if perhaps there's a "use it or lose it" aspect to this the way there is in some other areas of human physiology. Lots of teens seem to go through a period where they resist drinking milk ["That's for little kids"] and if that might contribute to later developing lactose intolerance.

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

Wow interesting article..."We are still reeling from the change: Heart disease, diabetes, alcoholism, celiac disease, and perhaps even acne are direct results of the switch to agriculture." - I bet that's gonna annoy vegetarians and vegans...

Also I wonder if part of being 'healthy' around cows was the cowpox protection from smallpox?

I would hazard a guess that the return of lactose intolerance is probably more to do with not giving children cows milk, or strange/fat less varieties...or maybe veganism?

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

Seeing a comment about unpasteurised milk being good for asthma from Mark Thomas (???) I went looking as I am asthmatic.

Well: http://www.glutathionediseasecure.com/milk-allergy-asthma.html this is highly odd. I do get mucus issues with milk, my asthma is going away at the same time I was taking extra calcium and Vitamin D (I am also calcium deficient, partly probably cos of diet (lack of milk is one maybe?) and lack of sun. Apparently Vit D is good for asthma - but there's all sorts of contradiction about milk & asthma. It's never lead to an attack or illness, I don't think I'm lactose intolerant - smoke and mould intolerant, yes. Cream has, so I switched to real greek yoghurt as an alternative. Which is lower in lactose and higher in cysteine...interesting.

I did look at some homeopathic site which the various findings and references were interesting, but the conclusion is bollocks, apart from reduce stress and maybe avoid antibiotics - those two are well known by my doctors (non-homeopathic!) but I never linked milk & asthma, apart from finding I do get extreme mucus production, to the level I have to watch what I drink/eat before a podcast.

[barbarian-rat.livejournal.com]

I too get mucus with milk, well with all dairy really. I can have moderate amounts of dairy with no mucus as long as I don't do it too often.

Funny, I don't miss milk much, and ice cream just little bit, but cheese and yogurt ... those I would consume more of if it wasn't for the mucus production they cause.