Neolithic farmers in Britain and northern Europe are the first to drink milk. Early humans are lactose intolerant but consume dairy anyway. Creation of foods such as cheese and yogurt can remove much of the lactose.
Analysis of degraded fats on pot shards reveals dairy production starts as early as the 5th millennium BCE, over 6000 years ago. Some sources go as far back as c. 10,000 years ago.
Lactose tolerance is not an overnight process. At the time of livestock domestication adult humans can't digest milk. For thousands of years, like most mammals, humans become lactose intolerant at the end of infancy.
According to scientists, early humans drink milk of sheep, goats, mares or cows before being able to digest it properly. It's part of the traditional nourishment for shepherds and other herders who spend all day in the field.
In the Neolithic era a genetic mutation appears among north Europeans. It's thought to originate in today's Turkey.
This lets people tolerate dairy products and benefit from their nutrients. Milk is high in potassium, B12, calcium and other vitamins and minerals.
According to Paleolithic nutrition expert Loren Cordain, "Something happened when we started drinking milk that reduced mortality." After infancy, humans continue to retain activity of the lactase-phlorizin hydrolase (LPH) enzyme.
The enzyme is encoded by the lactase (LTC) gene and gives adult humans the ability to digest dairy products. Lactase is the intestinal enzyme which breaks down dairy compounds.
Overall health standards rise. While ancient people generally have a shorter life span than today, better health sees fewer infant and childhood deaths.
The lactic revolution boosts the health of people across Europe, Eurasia, parts of Africa and other milk-drinking cultures. It occurs the same time people are experimenting with crops, agriculture and animal husbandry.
The evolutionary period for the lactose tolerance gene is anywhere from 2000 to 20,000 years. It's most thoroughly developed in people of Northern and Central European descent, and some regions of Africa and Middle East.
Development of the lactose tolerance gene coincides chronologically with emergence of the first known cattle cult, and the earliest breeding of cattle for dairy products by humans. Evidence of a cattle cult from c. 6000 BCE is found in NW Arabia.
It's described as the “first large-scale, monumental ritual landscape anywhere in the world … the earliest evidence for a cattle cult in the Arabian Peninsula” by the research team. The site is dated to the sixth millennium BCE (6-5000 BCE).
About 1000 mustatils, or prehistoric monuments of sandstone walls, are found in northwest Saudi Arabia. Mustatil is the Arabic word for rectangle, the shape of the enclosures.
Even today many people can't tolerate dairy. The gene can also go defunct in adult life, causing late-onset lactose intolerance.
Symptoms of lactose intolerance, scientifically "lactase nonpersistent" can include
abdominal pain
bloating
diarrhea
flatulence
nausea
Symptoms typically start half an hour to two hours after consuming food or drink containing lactose. Severity of symptoms can vary.
Lactose intolerance is not the same as milk allergy, an adverse immune reaction to one or more proteins in cow's milk. Symptoms of milk allergy may take hold within hours to days. They include:
atopic dermatitis (eczema)
inflammation of the esophagus
enteropathy - injury, inflammation, swelling in small intestine
proctocolitis - affects rectum & colon; diarrhea, abdominal cramps, inflammation
Humans differ in amount of lactose they can tolerate. Mexican, Indigenous American, Asian, and Black communities in America tend to have especially low tolerance. Today fortunately there are many non-lactose alternatives.
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