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National Chemistry Week and a global look at lactose intolerance
This week, in celebration of National Chemistry Week and its theme of the Sweet Side of Chemistry: Candy, NSF salutes sugar molecules that can be far more than just "sweet." One of milk's two sugars (the other is galactose!), lactose is not digestible in those lacking sufficient levels of lactase, which allows the body to metabolize that sugar. Certain parts of the world are reported to have higher incidences of lactose intolerance.
Through its Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate, NSF funds Sarah Tishkoff at the University of Pennsylvania, who is studying the "gut microbiome" and its impact on nutritional status like its contribution to obesity, malnutrition, auto-immune diseases and susceptibility to infectious disease. Among the data collected from nine groups in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, this anthropologic study will explore lactose intolerance.
Credit: NSF
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