At 12:42 2001-07-10 -0400, ardeith wrote:

>Some Oriental populations lost the enzyme needed
>to digest dairy long years back............

The critical thing is the sugar in the milk, lactose.  The enzyme is lactase.
One interesting fact is that dates contain lots of lactose, actually,
so people living in or having ancestry from areas where dates are
an important part of the diet ought to be able to digest dairy lactose also.
But there is also the possibility that if one continues to consume
dairy directly after weaning, the lactase production might never give up.
(My own thoughts, entirely.)

- Hans