Yes, it is possible but it's rare. Only something like 1 in 60,000 newborns are born lactose intolerant. And much more commonly, babies are born able to digest lactose and keep the ability to drink milk as adults. About 35% of the human population keeps being able to digest lactose after infancy/childhood.7 Mar 2017
Are all humans technically lactose intolerant?
All humans are lactose tolerant in early life because we are mammals. Most humans only switch to being lactose intolerant in the transition to adulthood.11 Mar 2016
Do humans naturally produce lactose?
Lactase is the enzyme responsible for the digestion of the milk sugar lactose and its production decreases after the weaning phase in most mammals, including most humans. Some humans, however, continue to produce lactase throughout adulthood, a trait known as lactase persistence.
Are humans naturally lactose intolerant?
Thousands of years ago, a mutation in the human genome allowed many adults to digest lactose and drink milk. Up until several thousand years ago, that enzyme turned off once a person grew into adulthood — meaning most adults were lactose intolerant (or "lactase nonpersistent," as scientists call it).28 Dec 2012
When did people start becoming lactose intolerant?
The pattern was the same for all mammals: At the end of infancy, we became lactose-intolerant for life. Two hundred thousand years later, around 10,000 B.C., this began to change. A genetic mutation appeared, somewhere near modern-day Turkey, that jammed the lactase-production gene permanently in the “on” position.23 Oct 2012