Thursday, 30 July 2009

Why Did Darwin Drink Milk?

Charles Darwin probably suffered from lactose intolerance. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Joel Kontinen

Old monkey fossils have not made headlines since the Ida fiasco. Perhaps for this reason Aamulehti, the second largest daily in Finland, recently reminded its readers that Darwinian evolution is still a model that explains everything, including lactose tolerance.

Weakening lactose tolerance in adults is due to evolution, says geneticist Irma Järvelä in an article in Aamulehti. She explained that when a child is weaned the mother becomes free to get more offspring. In other words, evolution acts in a teleological way, making the child dislike milk.

The explanation is a typical example of Darwinian storytelling of the evolution did it or Darwin of the gaps type just so stories that can never be verified empirically.

Lactose tolerance is due to a mutation that does not have anything to do with goo-to-you evolution. Darwinian evolution desperately needs mutations that would increase genetic information.

However, according to biophysicist Lee Spetner science does not know of a single case in which a point mutation would have increased genetic information.

Adults were originally unable to drink milk, but due to a genetic mutation 82 per cent of Finns are now able to digest milk. Such “mutants” are rare among the nations of eastern Asia.

Explanations of lactose tolerance are probably important for evolutionists because their founding father Charles Darwin suffered from diarrhea, bloating and flatulence that are typical symptoms of lactose intolerance.


Catchpoole, David. 2009. Can’t drink milk? You’re “normal”! How mutations cause lactose tolerance in adults.

Hyvärinen, Hanna. 2009. Maito pörisyttää aikuista, koska sen kuuluu tehdä niin. Aamulehti 29 July, B19.

Spetner, Lee. 1997. Not By Change! Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution. New York: The Judaica Press.