Table of Contents
Why did humans first drink cow milk?
But then evolution kicked in: some people began to keep their lactase enzymes active into adulthood. This “lactase persistence” allowed them to drink milk without side effects. The obvious answer is that drinking milk gave people a new source of nutrients, reducing the risk of starvation.
When did humans start consuming animal milk?
Now, scientists have found some of the oldest evidence yet for dairy drinking: People in modern Kenya and Sudan were ingesting milk products beginning at least 6000 years ago. That’s before humans evolved the “milk gene,” suggesting we were drinking the liquid before we had the genetic tools to properly digest it.
Are humans meant to drink animal milk?
“No human should be consuming milk after they’ve been weaned from their mother’s breast,” she wrote. “It is completely unnatural. Cow’s milk is intended only for baby cows—and it’s cruel to take the milk away from the calves for whom it is clearly intended. Need calcium?
When did humans first start drinking milk?
Set against the 300,000-year history of our species, drinking milk is quite a new habit. Before about 10,000 years ago or so, hardly anybody drank milk, and then only on rare occasions.
Why did hunter-gatherers not evolve to drink milk?
Hunter-gatherers, who do not keep animals, did not acquire the mutations. Neither did “forest gardeners” who cultivated plants, but not livestock. It makes sense that people who did not have access to animal milk were not under great evolutionary pressure to adapt to drinking it.
Why do people drink milk instead of fruit?
Today, drinking milk is common practice in northern Europe, North America, and a patchwork of other places. There is a biological reason why drinking animal milk is odd. Milk contains a type of sugar called lactose, which is distinct from the sugars found in fruit and other sweet foods.
Were prehistoric people lactose intolerant?
Sadly for the prehistoric farmers, they were likely lactose intolerant. Around 6,000 years ago, seven people living in three British Neolithic sites—Hambledon Hill and Hazleton North in the south, and Banbury Lane a bit more to the east—imbibed or consumed enough milk products to leave traces behind on their teeth.