Human evolution continues through dietary and environmental adaptations

Scientific evidence suggests that human evolution is an ongoing process visible in modern physiology. Recent studies highlight how natural selection has shaped human biology in response to diet and environment.

One significant example is lactose tolerance. Approximately 10,000 years ago, the domestication of animals led to increased milk consumption. While many adult mammals cannot digest lactose, certain gene variants allowed some humans to tolerate dairy. This trait spread through natural selection in populations across Europe, East Africa, and the Middle East, resulting in roughly 30 to 35 percent of the global adult population being able to tolerate lactose today.

In the Andes of South America, the cultivation of potatoes has driven similar evolutionary changes. Research indicates that the Quechua people, who have Indigenous Andean ancestry, possess genetic adaptations for superior starch digestion. This adaptation is linked to a higher number of copies of a specific gene variant, which likely provided a survival advantage to ancestors who domesticated the potato thousands of years ago.