[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7187\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ESolving an ancient dairy mystery could help cure modern food ills\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDairy has been central to people\u2019s existence since at least 6,500 years BC.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut a mystery lies at its heart which, if solved, could help explain the rising number of modern dietary problems ranging from food intolerances to allergies, researchers say.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScientists are trying to explain why people began consuming animals\u2019 milk before they developed genetic mutations which enabled them to digest it properly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe mutations mean people produce lactase - an enzyme which breaks down milk sugars, called lactose - after they reach adulthood. Without the mutations, lactase production stops in childhood, which can lead to lactose intolerance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There is at least a 4,000 year gap between when we see the earliest evidence of dairying and when we see first the evidence of any mutations anywhere in the world,\u2019 said Professor Christina Warinner, head of microbiome sciences at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.shh.mpg.de\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EMax Planck Institute for the Science of Human History\u003C\/a\u003E in Jena, Germany.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnly about \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com\/articles\/10.1186\/1471-2148-10-36\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E35%\u003C\/a\u003E of the world\u2019s population today have lactase persistence mutations. They exist mainly in European populations \u2013 especially northwestern Europe \u2013 and their descendants, and in parts of the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If we can work out the evolutionary history and mechanics of lactose intolerance (how diet, human genetics, and gut microbes interact), we will have a powerful model for how to tackle other complex digestive disorders and food allergies,\u2019 said Prof. Warinner.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018There is at least a 4,000 year gap between when we see the earliest evidence of dairying and when we see first the evidence of any mutations anywhere in the world.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Christina Warinner, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMongolia\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudying the dairy heritage and gut bacteria of a group of people who do not have lactase persistence \u2013 Mongolian herders \u2013 may help crack the dairy mystery.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018They have been dairying in Mongolia for thousands of years, yet today the people of Mongolia do not have the mutations that allow them to produce lactase,\u2019 said Prof. Warinner, who heads a project investigating Mongolia\u2019s dairy history, called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/221368\/factsheet\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EDAIRYCULTURES\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMongolians milk a wide variety of animals \u2013 horses, yaks, sheep, camels, cattle, goats and reindeer \u2013 and create many different products including vodka made from yak yoghurt, and a dried curd that can be stored at room temperature for up to two years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScientists are exploring whether the herders\u2019 processing techniques make dairy more digestible by significantly reducing the milk sugar content.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMicrobes use up the lactose when converting milks into yoghurt or cheese. European hard cheeses like parmesan contain almost no lactose, for example.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The reason people were able to eat dairy before we had the ability to process lactose is because of fermentation,\u2019 said Cheryl Makarewicz, professor at the University of Kiel, Germany.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It shows the power of this kind of processing and how it can impact how your body reacts to different foodstuffs,\u2019 she said. Fermented foods contain microbes which may also play a part in people\u2019s digestion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMicrobes in people\u2019s guts may have also evolved to break down the lactose. \u2018This hasn\u2019t been well studied \u2026 It\u2019s something we\u2019re trying to test,\u2019 said Prof. Warinner.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo do this, Dairy Cultures scientists are exploring the microbiome, the genetic makeup of microbes that live in the gut, which include bacteria, viruses and fungi. They are studying samples from herders to see if they contain elevated levels of microbes that aid milk digestion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The more we can understand about how the microbiome functioned in the past and what it is capable of, the better we will understand how and why the microbiome is changing now and why it is associated with so many health problems today,\u2019 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@alignleft@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022The consumption of dairy - a source of food that helped people cross vast grasslands - is likely to have caught on as a survival mechanism. Image credit - Christina Warinner\u0022 height=\u0022900\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/dairy-products-on-market-small.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022The consumption of dairy - a source of food that helped people cross vast grasslands - is likely to have caught on as a survival mechanism. Image credit - Christina Warinner\u0022 width=\u00221200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EThe consumption of dairy - a source of food that helped people cross vast grasslands - is likely to have caught on as a survival mechanism. Image credit - Christina Warinner\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPottery\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe earliest evidence of dairy use was found in pottery samples from Anatolia, in what is modern day Turkey. They date back to about \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nature07180\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E6,500 BC\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDairying spread south from the Middle East to Africa by 3,000 BC, and across Asia to Mongolia before 1,300 BC.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore that, in the 6\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E millennia BC, early Neolithic cattle farmers spread their lifestyle across Europe with dramatic consequences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe shift for Europe\u2019s peoples from hunting and gathering to cattle farming reshaped prehistoric European culture, biology and economy, says Professor Richard Evershed of Bristol University in the UK. He studied the Anatolian pottery and heads a programme called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/324202\u0022\u003ENeoMILK\u003C\/a\u003E, which investigates the spread of Neolithic cattle-based agriculture and of dairying across Europe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe transformation ultimately resulted in the spread of dairy economies globally, and the development of lactase persistence mutations in Europeans, he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018These people changed us as Europeans to be genetically different from the rest of the world by the decision they took to do dairy farming,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe consumption of dairy is likely to have caught on as a survival mechanism.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMilk is rich in proteins, calcium, sugars and fats and, once processed, becomes a source of food that can be eaten throughout the year. It helped people to cross deserts and vast grasslands.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Dairy offers a new world in terms of subsistence. It means that your animal (becomes) a renewable resource \u2026 and you can eat dairy (in the form of cheese or curds) all year round,\u2019 said Prof. Makarewicz, who heads a programme called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/772957\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EASIAPAST\u003C\/a\u003E, which is investigating the spread of pastoralism across the Eurasian steppe and the diets of early Eurasian herders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe advent of dairy also changed people\u2019s daily routines, which is likely to have had a major impact on how people interacted with each other and, ultimately, the ways in which societies were organised, she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnimals have to be milked once or twice a day, and the milk processed immediately. This takes several hours and in traditional societies, including Mongolian herding communities, it is mainly done by women, keeping them tied close to the animals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In a pre-dairy era, maybe women roamed further,\u2019 said Prof. Makarewicz, who has lived with Bedouin tribes in Jordan and with Mongolian herders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWomen\u2019s legacy\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe women\u2019s legacy is substantial: by painstakingly processing the milk each day, small-scale dairy producers around the world have domesticated dozens of different types of microbes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In some cases, we think these microbes have been in continuous cultivation for millennia,\u2019 said Prof. Warinner.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost of them have not been studied so their functions are unknown, including their possible role in enabling people without lactase persistence mutations to digest milk, she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd they are rapidly being stamped out and replaced with industrial strains through development programmes, industrialisation, and state level organisation of dairy production, says Prof. Warinner.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe few microbes used in the industrial production of yoghurts and cheeses are all grown in European laboratories, she adds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Makarewicz says the rise in food intolerances over the past couple of decades have to do with the way food is processed in the West.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe processing exposes people to chemical additives not normally encountered outside a laboratory, and often cuts the amount of fibre in foods which in turn changes the way people metabolise their food. And food factories have high standards of cleanliness, which means food contains fewer bacteria and other microbes, she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We don\u2019t know yet what the outcome for that is for the human body,\u2019 Prof. Makarewicz said. \u2018(Now is) a really interesting period in terms of human dietary evolution,\u2019 she added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003ELactose and cheesemaking\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EIn order to make cheese from milk, cheesemakers add bacteria to the milk. These bacteria feed on the milk sugars, the lactose, and produce lactic acid. Some bacteria strains also release carbon dioxide, alcohol and other flavour inducing compounds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter the fermentation process, the remaining product is coagulated into cheese curds while the remaining liquid, the whey with most of the lactose, is drained. In hard cheeses such as parmesan or cheddar, very little moisture is kept before the cheese is allowed to age and another type of bacteria is added. This type contains high levels of lactase, the enzyme that further breaks down lactose.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen making soft cheese, not all of the whey is drained, leaving more lactose behind. These younger varieties are also not treated with the additional lactose-eating bacteria given to cheese that needs to harden and mature.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-ar9z7gpvwnt2vevs-fygd-l0y0twh5y8m4-u-5sbkbs\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-ar9Z7gPvwnT2VEvs_fYGD_L0y0Twh5Y8M4-U_5SBKBs\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]