tilthat:

TIL that until 11,000 years ago milk was toxic to humans, that the only way we could consume it was lowering the lactose levels by turning it into cheese, that today only one third of adults are lactose tolerant, and that the closer you get to the equator the lower the tolerance level is.

via reddit.com

Okay so I did some Research™️ on this to prove a point to my dad (yknow, when I do most of my research) and the line above is misleading.

So basically, lactose tolerance developed separately among three groups of people: one in Northern Europe, one in Central Asia, and one in Africa.

The easiest one to explain, and the one that will be most relevant to most people reading this, is the European one. It’s currently theorized that the mutation for tolerance of milk into adulthood developed due to a lack of Vitamin C(? D? Whatever.)from the sun. This is most dominant in Scandinavians, the English, and the German people, with it being rarer in Osuthern Europe, such as Italy. Generally, it’s thought around 80% of Europeans and people descended from them (looking at you, anglosphere) are tolerant.

The other two groups were covered in much less detail (three guesses why), but the leading theory for them is that they were nomads who developed it as a supplemental nutrient supply for herding.

Anyway, among Eastern Asians, Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals, and Pacific Islanders, the gene practically never developed like it did in the Afro-Eurasian area, and due to the high populations of those people combined, about 2/3 of the world is Lactose Intolerent, despite many Americans, Canadians, Australians, and Europeans believing its natural to be tolerant of milk.