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Nature Is Weird  /  Biology

Your gut bacteria can override your DNA to let you digest milk even if you are "genetically" lactose intolerant.

Lactose intolerance is usually seen as a fixed genetic trait where the body stops producing a specific enzyme. Scientists discovered that many people across the globe who lack this gene can still drink milk without any symptoms. This is because their gut microbiome has evolved to produce the missing enzyme for them. These bacteria effectively patch the host's genetic deficiency, allowing for a broader diet. This reveals that our nutritional limits are not just written in our cells, but are managed by a partnership with trillions of microbes.

Original Paper

Microbially Acquired Lactose Tolerance Compensates for Host Genetic Lactase Deficiency across Continents

J. Liam Fitzstevens, Alexander V. Tyakht, Victor T. Schmidt, Xiaoying Liu, Albane Ruaud, Mirabeau Mbong Ngwese, Julia Rauch, Taichi Suzuki, Nicholas D. Youngblut, Nguyen Thu Ha, Aleksandr Arzamasov, Dmitry A. Rodionov, Niklas Pfister, Nikolaj Thams, Bayode R. Adegbite, Jeannot F. Zinsou, Meral Esen, Ayola A. Adegnika, Thirumalaisamy Velavan, Le Huu Song, Andrei L. Osterman, Peter G. Kremsner, Ruth Ley

SSRN  ·  6690580

In dairying populations where the lactase persistence (LP) genotype dominates, the ancestral lactase non-persistent (LNP) genotype is thought to have been selected against, partly due to lactose intolerance from the gut microbiome. Symptom severity can vary widely however, and how distinct microbiomes globally relate to variation in lactose intolerance is unclear. Here, we performed lactose tolerance testing in LNP individuals from Germany, Gabon, and Vietnam. 15% of LNP individuals produced lac