The Biological Basis Of Human Lactase

Thesis: Humans are designed to drink human milk, not cow’s milk. Humans should really old drink milk during infancy and that’s because all of the hormones in cow’s milk can cause many health issues.

Enzymes are types of proteins that work as a substance to help speed up a chemical reaction (Madar & Windelspecht, 104). There are three factors that help enzyme activity increase in speed. The three factors that speed up the activity of enzymes are concentration, an increase in temperature, and a preferred pH environment. Whether or not the reaction continues to move forward is not up to the enzyme, instead the reaction is dependent on a reaction’s free energy. These enzymatic reactions have reactants referred to as substrates. Enzymes do much more than create substrates; enzymes actually work with the substrate in a reaction (Madar &Windelspecht, 106). For reactions in a cell it is

Lactose is a sugar that can be put into smaller molecules, glucose and galactose. Lactose is when you are not able to digest milk and dairy meaning that the enzyme lactase that breaks down lactose is not functioning properly. ONPG was used as a substitute for lactase because even though it is colorless it helps show enzyme activity by turning yellow. This experiment measured the absorbance ONPG when exposed to lactase within an environment of different salinity’s. The enzyme, lactase, was obtained by crushing a lactaid pill and then was added into four cuvettes. ONPG and salt solution of different concentrations were added and their levels of absorption was measured by a spectrophotometer. The results showed that higher salt concentrations have a lower level of absorption. There were 4 cuvettes and within those cuvettes that solutions within them were being tested and the results showed the more salt solution added with the lactase the lower the absorbance. The less salt solution there was a higher rate of absorbance. The data supported the hypothesis that with increasing NaCl concentration there would be a decrease in enzyme activity.

Throughout our lives we have been told that milk is good for our body and helps to toughen our bones. Drinking milk started when people domesticated animals for food, which happened around 7500 years ago in the central Balkans and central Europe. By that time consuming milk was not as common as it is today. It was only farmers in some specific regions that were using cow’s milk. Milk’s market grew the mass production of meat in the 15th century. Afterwards in the 17th century, the idea of eating out and going to restaurants was born and fast food industries, started using animal’s meat for producing their meals. The rate of milk users grew with the rate of meat users and milk’s market got bigger and bigger every day. Mothers

The opposition for consuming dairy products lies on the notion that the enzyme that is able to digest the lactose sugar, lactase, “grinds to a halt sometime soon after weaning.” This can be believed to be a biological reasoning why we should not consume dairy products after weaning. However, Zuk mentions that there are some humans who are able to break down lactose well after weaning. She also describes that the gene for lactase persistence is a dominant trait. Thus, like we learned in class an organism only needs one copy of the dominant gene for the lactase persistence to occur.

“Raw milk today is a fringe movement, a crusade of underdogs, a pesky mouse against the entrenched lions of medicine and industry.” The book The Untold Story of Milk begins with the undesirable situation of raw milk in today’s society.

“Enzymes are proteins that have catalytic functions” [1], “that speed up or slow down reactions”[2], “indispensable to maintenance and activity of life”[1]. They are each very specific, and will only work when a particular substrate fits in their active site. An active site is “a region on the surface of an enzyme where the substrate binds, and where the reaction occurs”[2].

The results obtained matched what was expected when the experiment was started. The procedure was successful in the fact that the components of the milk were separated and the qualitative tests went

focused their article on their study of low prevalence of lactase persistence in South-West Europe. They connect the way humans digest and process milk component lactose in the body with genetic variation. The way humans digest lactose has to do with their genes. They conducted a study on lactase prevalence of individuals from the late Neolithic and it was revealed that “these populations had an average frequency of lactase persistence of 27%, much lower than in the modern Basque population, which is compatible with the concept that Neolithic and post-Neolithic evolutionary pressures by cattle domestication and consumption of dairy products led to high lactase persistence in Southern European populations” (Plantinga & Co. 778). From the tests that was performed, they were able to come up with the conclusion that “......nearly threefold increase of the frequency of the lactase persistence associated allele (13910 T) from the Neolithic era to the present time” (Plantinga & Co.

Archaeological records from between 7500 and 9000 years ago, suggest that colonies of people from Northern Africa and the Middle East began to domesticate and milk cattle. Later, these cows were brought to Europe, where the human population then began to domesticate their own cattle. Before the domestication of cows, the tolerance or intolerance to lactose did not provide an evolutionary advantage or disadvantage because it did not affect an individual’s ability to survive. As a result, it did not affect natural selection and had no bearing on evolution. Due to the shared cultural traits of milk consumption in adults and the domestication of animals in the aforementioned European and African cultures, this led to strong, positive selection

Breast milk is made from the mammary gland in the breast. Different parts in the mammary gland play a role, the breast milk is made in the alveoli which contains tiny sacs in the breast where there is muscles to squeeze the sacs to push the milk to the ductules that carries milk to the milk ducts that carries the milk straight to the infant (how breasts make milk in pregnancy, 2013). Breastfeeding is when a women feeds her infant breast milk after 3 days of giving birth. Breast milk consists of nutrients from the mother’s blood, breast milk is known as colostrum. After the fifth day the breast produces mature milk which consists the right amount of nutrients for the baby to grow. There are many benefits of breast milk to the

The researchers, therefore, concluded that consumption of milk having A1 β-casein was linked to higher gastrointestinal inflammation which was linked to worse PD3 symptoms and a decrease in speed of cognitive processing. These findings provided insights on the symptoms of lactose intolerance or lactase non-persistence and the fact that they might also be triggering inflammation. Therefore, it may be advisable that rather than completely ignoring milk and other dairy products on the basis of lactose intolerance, one can consider consuming milk that only contains A2 type of beta casein to see if indeed his or her problem is due to lactase non-persistence. Misselwitz et al (2013) also consent that there is no point in totally excluding people who have reported lactose intolerance from consuming milk and other dairy products. Misselwitz et al (2013), in this study, sought to establish the most appropriate technique for diagnosing lactose malabsorption and intolerance. According to the researchers, the most notable methods such as self-reporting and duodenal biopsies are not only invasive, but are also limited by the patchy expression of lactose. The authors present four main tests used for lactose malabsorption and tolerance and these include the H2-breath test, the lactose tolerance test, and the genetic test of

Lactose was contained within the milk and as the milk met the immobilised lactase, it began to break down into glucose and galactose. The results show, as the lactose in the milk was left to the lactase for longer, the break down into glucose and galactose increased. This can be seen by the colour change. To begin with we tested the milk for glucose by dipping the clinistix before the treatment and the result was negative, showing that no glucose was present. Once the milk was exposed in the lactase enzyme for 5 minutes it had already begun to break down into glucose and galactose, the first test showed some signs of glucose as had turned from blue to light green. As the experiment progressed and the milk was left in the lactase enzyme for longer, more and more was broken down into glucose and galactose, this is evident by

The lactic Acid system is not used much during a game of water polo. Lactic acid is produced when glycose is broken down and oxidized. Lactic Acid relies on glycose to produce ATP. Lactic acid causes build up within your muscles during intense training or running for long periods of time causing muscle fatigue. The mitochondria - often called the powerhouse of the cell - is where lactate is burned for energy. A limitation for the lactic Acid system is not eating the right

The most important components of the milk must be essential targets on any market of dairy products (protein, fat, lactose, mineral salt and vitamins). The milk is a nourishing product, it possesses more than 100 substances that are already be in suspension, solution or emulsion in water. The composition of the milk depends on several factors: The race, epoch of lactation, production level. The mastitis and the adulteration modify the components of him milk.