Lactose Intolerance: Article Analysis

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ten were willing to undergo and upper-gastrointestinal endoscopy. The results f these ten subject showed that none of them had low lactose activity. In the DNA (genotype) analysis, 35 subjects gave blood samples for the C/T_13910 genotype determination. One of the subject’s results indicated to be positive for primary hypolactacia and lactose maldigestion (this result was showed in his LTTE results). Twenty participants had genotype C/T_13910, and 13 had the genotype T/T_13910, indicating a regular lactose activity.

The symptoms describe by the some of the test subjects were similar to the symptoms produced by primary hypolatacia. According to the study, in the LTTE, 26% of the subjects said they had experienced "moderate gastrointestinal symptoms." The scientist concluded that this could be due to the high consumption of milk in Finland. Some of the gastrointestinal symptoms were, "psychological factors, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), unbalanced intestinal microflora, or some type of visceral hypersensitivity” (pg.1086). To conclude, the scientists who conducted this study confirmed that although primary hypolactasia often appears before the age of twenty, the decline in lactose activity can cause primary hypolactasia to occur after the age of twenty. Also, the study concluded that the best diagnostic method to diagnose primary hypolactasia is by genotype determination.

The relevance of this study can be useful in the field of physical anthropology. Physical Anthropology studies the evolutionary process of the human species, but it also takes into account the physical and genetic variability found in us. The lactose intolerance study focused on Finnish people only, and by doing so, we learned that adults in Finland have a high intolerance to lactose, but how about the people in other countries? Perhaps the results of this study won’t apply in other parts of the world, and so a physical anthropologist can research why that is the case. Or perhaps the results of this study shows us that we are similar to the Finnish people in some way, then a physical anthropologist could study these similarities as well.