The historical role of milk and dairying in shaping European societies

Varga László: The historical role of milk and dairying in shaping European societies. In: Élelmiszervizsgálati közlemények, (63) 2. pp. 1544-1547. (2017)

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Abstract

Based on results recently published in the scientific literature, the author briefly outlines in this mini-review how dairying has become, over thousands of years, a basic activity of humankind. Following the domestication of cattle, goats and sheep, which had begun approximately 10,500 to 11,000 years ago in the Middle East, milk was already in use in northwestern Anatolia by the seventh millennium BC. In lack of lactase, however, milk consumption resulted in unpleasant outcomes (e.g., flatulence, cramps, diarrhea, etc.) in the vast majority of prehistoric farmers. The negative symptoms associated with lactose intolerance were later considerably alleviated by the introduction of simple milk processing techniques such as fermentation. Thus, for instance, Neolithic farming communities in north-central Poland started producing cheese between 6800 and 7400 years ago. Intriguingly, the ability to digest lactose in adulthood, termed lactase persistence (LP), emerged as a result of a genetic mutation at about the same time in central Europe, and the LP allele has been subject to strong positive selection afterwards. As the so-called gene–culture coevolutionary model suggests, the cultural evolution of dairy farming tightly entwined with the biological evolution of LP over millennia, and these processes are likely to have profoundly influenced the genetic composition of European populations.

Item Type:	Article
Other title:	A tej és a tejgazdálkodás történelmi szerepe az európai társadalmak formálásában
Heading title:	Tudomány = Science
Journal or Publication Title:	Élelmiszervizsgálati közlemények
Date:	2017
Volume:	63
Number:	2
ISSN:	0422-9576
Page Range:	pp. 1544-1547
Language:	English
Publisher:	WESSLING Nemzetközi Kutató és Oktató Központ Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft.
Place of Publication:	Budapest
Related URLs:	https://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/79001/
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Tejgazdálkodás, Tejtermelés
Additional Information:	Bibliogr.: p. 1546-1547. ; összefoglalás angol nyelven
Subjects:	02. Engineering and technology 02. Engineering and technology > 02.10. Other engineering and technologies 02. Engineering and technology > 02.10. Other engineering and technologies > 02.10.02. Food and beverages
Date Deposited:	2023. Jul. 07. 10:56
Last Modified:	2023. Aug. 26. 08:18
URI:	http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/79151

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