Most of us were raised to “drink your milk” and if you are like me, drink it you did. I grew up on milk and had it multiple times a day, on my cereal in the morning and as my beverage of choice with dinner each night.

It wasn’t until after college that I started having pretty severe stomach problems – lots of cramping, bloating, and major digestive issues, if you catch my drift. I started digging into why and when I discovered dairy was the culprit, I felt like something was the matter with me. But it turns out that the majority of us are lactose intolerant, aka unable to digest milk, and specifically the enzyme lactose. I mean, does anyone feel terrific after a creamy alfredo?

There’s debate about why humans ever started drinking milk in the first place, other than our mother’s milk when we are born. A commonly held theory is that humans were starving and saw cow’s milk as a solution. Somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, English and Northern European farmers may have been the first or among the first to begin drinking cow’s milk. If these Neolithic farmers were in fact consuming milk, scientists believe they likely were lactose intolerant.

So, why did people keep drinking milk? Well, it might have been better than starving.

According to Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at the University College London, “In times of famine, milk drinking probably increased. And the very people who shouldn't have been consuming high-lactose dairy products — the hungry and malnourished — would be the ones more likely to drink fresh milk. So, with milk's deadly effects for the lactose intolerant, individuals with the lactase mutation would have been more likely to survive and pass on that gene.”

Essentially, the people who had a “genetic mutation” and were able to tolerate milk passed on their genes and enabled future generations to also tolerate milk. By the way, milk IS extremely nutritious, and was seen as a superfood of sorts, so it might’ve been worth it to attempt to tolerate milk back then. Even today, if you're able to tolerate cow's milk, good for you. But whether for environmental or health reasons, more of us are picking plant-based milk over cow's milk.

Today, it is estimated that 70% of adults worldwide are lactose-intolerant, a huge number! If you’re one of them, like me, then you’re likely grateful there are so many plant-based options to choose from today.

Read more about the benefits of buckwheat and BAM here and check out where you can find BAM Buckwheat Milk.