Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Why do some countries drink milk yet others don’t?
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YOUR DNA and the Digestion of Milk…
Why do some countries drink milk yet others don’t? Why can some people digest cow’s milk with no problem yet others can’t? Estimates are around only 30% of adults worldwide can digest lactose, the main sugar in milk. In this video, I am going to look at how the Indo-European migrations from the Steppe region of Ukraine and Russia may have helped spread the ability to digest milk across Eurasia and the world.
Now I know a lot of people love a glass of milk, but drinking milk isn’t uniform across the globe. This table shows the Per capita milk consumption from 2020 for each country around the world, and also includes dairy products made from milk, apart from butter for some reason. As we can see, pretty much all of Europe consumes a lot of milk, with Finland particularly high, as well as Britain and Ireland. Russia is also relatively high, as well as the likes of Kazakhstan. India and Pakistan consume less milk products but still reasonable amounts. Contrast this with parts of Asia and Africa which basically consume little to no milk.
Now this is a map of lactose intolerance around the world. As you can see, the inability to digest milk is extremely low in Europe, most of north America and the likes of Russia, yet extremely high in East Asia, parts of Africa and South America.
Even for countries who drink a lot of milk today however, this wasn’t always the case. Just to clarify the terms quicky, lactase persistence is the continued activity of the lactase enzyme in adulthood, allowing the digestion of lactose in milk. In most mammals, the activity of the enzyme is dramatically reduced after weaning.
Sources:
Allentoft, M., Sikora, M., Sjögren, KG. et al. Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia. Nature 522, 167–172 (2015). researchgate.net/publication/278327861_Population_genomics_of_Bronze_Age_Eurasia
Milk digestion's 'more recent rise' bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33057927
On the Evolution of Lactase Persistence in Humans annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-genom-091416-035340
Mathieson I, et al. Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians. Nature. 2015 Dec 24;528(7583):499-503. doi: 10.1038/nature16152. Epub 2015 Nov 23. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918750
Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome, Lara M. Cassidy, Rui Martiniano, Eileen M. Murphy, December 28, 2015, 113 (2) 368-373, GENETICS pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1518445113
Lactose intolerance britannica.com/science/lactose-intolerance
Per capita milk consumption, 2020 ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-milk-consumption
#history #milk #ancientcivilizations
Why do some countries drink milk yet others don’t?
Please support this channel on Patreon and get ad-free videos and other benefits: patreon.com/historydecoded
Please Buy Me a Coffee - buymeacoffee.com/celtichistory
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
Check out my merch store and please help support this channel - celtic-history-decoded.creator-spring.com - Full terms and conditions can be found on Spring’s website.
Follow Celtic History Decoded on Instagram - instagram.com/celtichistorydecoded
Follow Celtic History Decoded on Tik Tok - tiktok.com/@celtichistorydecoded
YOUR DNA and the Digestion of Milk…
Why do some countries drink milk yet others don’t? Why can some people digest cow’s milk with no problem yet others can’t? Estimates are around only 30% of adults worldwide can digest lactose, the main sugar in milk. In this video, I am going to look at how the Indo-European migrations from the Steppe region of Ukraine and Russia may have helped spread the ability to digest milk across Eurasia and the world.
Now I know a lot of people love a glass of milk, but drinking milk isn’t uniform across the globe. This table shows the Per capita milk consumption from 2020 for each country around the world, and also includes dairy products made from milk, apart from butter for some reason. As we can see, pretty much all of Europe consumes a lot of milk, with Finland particularly high, as well as Britain and Ireland. Russia is also relatively high, as well as the likes of Kazakhstan. India and Pakistan consume less milk products but still reasonable amounts. Contrast this with parts of Asia and Africa which basically consume little to no milk.
Now this is a map of lactose intolerance around the world. As you can see, the inability to digest milk is extremely low in Europe, most of north America and the likes of Russia, yet extremely high in East Asia, parts of Africa and South America.
Even for countries who drink a lot of milk today however, this wasn’t always the case. Just to clarify the terms quicky, lactase persistence is the continued activity of the lactase enzyme in adulthood, allowing the digestion of lactose in milk. In most mammals, the activity of the enzyme is dramatically reduced after weaning.
Sources:
Allentoft, M., Sikora, M., Sjögren, KG. et al. Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia. Nature 522, 167–172 (2015). researchgate.net/publication/278327861_Population_genomics_of_Bronze_Age_Eurasia
Milk digestion's 'more recent rise' bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33057927
On the Evolution of Lactase Persistence in Humans annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-genom-091416-035340
Mathieson I, et al. Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians. Nature. 2015 Dec 24;528(7583):499-503. doi: 10.1038/nature16152. Epub 2015 Nov 23. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918750
Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome, Lara M. Cassidy, Rui Martiniano, Eileen M. Murphy, December 28, 2015, 113 (2) 368-373, GENETICS pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1518445113
Lactose intolerance britannica.com/science/lactose-intolerance
Per capita milk consumption, 2020 ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-milk-consumption
#history #milk #ancientcivilizations
