It is said that the average person consumes 144 pints of cow’s milk a year, but 40% of that is poured on to cereal. What gluten intolerance did for bread, lactose intolerance is doing to milk. But northern Europeans, who thousands of years ago got into cattle farming, have adapted to cow’s milk and have a genetic mutation so that only between 2 and 15% have a degree of lactase deficiency. Not really – it made sense to drink milk at one time, so we adapted to do so. And cow’s milk is nutritious – it contains calcium, vitamins A and D and riboflavin, as well as protein and isn’t heavy on calories.

Source: The Guardian November 21, 2016 07:30 UTC