Potatoes May Have Given Indigenous Andeans a Digestive Superpower
3 Articles
3 Articles
Potatoes may have given Indigenous Andeans a digestive superpower
The rise of the potato in the Andes appears to have left a lasting mark on human DNA. Indigenous Peruvians carry exceptionally high numbers of a starch-digestion gene, likely because people with more copies gained an evolutionary advantage once potatoes became a staple food. The change began thousands of years before European contact, providing unusually strong evidence that diet can shape human evolution.
Revealed: the ancient Andean secrets behind Peru’s vibrant potato varieties
With 90 microclimates, Peru is home to an astonishing array of unique ingredients. Its greatest treasure, however, is the humble potato, of which there are more than 4,000 native varieties. PostMag heads to the Andes and discovers a growing appreciation for the spud in its ancestral home.
Thousands of years of eating a potato-rich diet may have left a mark on the DNA of indigenous populations in the Andes. A study published on May 05 in the scientific journal Nature Communications found among people in the region a high amount of copies of the AMY1 gene related to starch digestion. The discovery suggests that a diet historically rich in starch foods may have favored, over generations, people with more copies of the gene. Adaptati…
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