Milk

Milk is probably one of the most important foods on the whole planet! Okay maybe I am exaggerating a little being that only 35% of the human population can even drink Milk past the age of seven; you have to admit though, milk is pretty incredible stuff. I mean think about it some of the greatest foods on earth would not exist without milk, we use it to make cheese, yogurt, butter, we can’t forget butter, and most importantly Ice cream, and let’s face it, without ice cream, life would just stop. That would be sad. I think it’s safe to say that milk is pretty important.

There are a lot of other great things about milk. Like the fact that it is the primary food source for all mammals during the first stages of life. Cows produce it, goats produce it, heck even we produce the stuff, and in hippos it comes out pink! With all the varieties out there, and its incredible versatility keeping milk around seems like a no brainer, but it turns out nearly 75 percent of the world is lactose intolerant meaning they can’t eat or drink most milk products.

This is an unusual problem here in the USA because of a mutation known as lactose persistence introduced into the European gene pool around 7000 years ago. How did this mutation come about? Speculation says through the invention of none other than cheese and yogurt. By making fermented cheeses and yogurts  our ancestors were able to reduce the amount of lactose, or milk sugars down to a level that was tolerable for their stomachs, over time this caused their body’s to begin developing the necessary enzymes  to process milk. Pretty crazy stuff eh?

I don’t know about you, but I for one am Grateful for milk. And for the ability passed on by my ancestors to be able to enjoy the many wonderful products it creates.