Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 18191277
Trends Ecol. Evol. (Amst.) 2008 Feb;23(2):56-9
The transition from foraging to farming allowed humans to produce several foods in abundance that were previously scarce. However, early farmers had to adapt to benefit fully from this energy-rich but initially detrimental food supply. Perry et al. recently showed that natural selection has increased the copy number of a gene encoding a starch-digesting enzyme in farming populations. This study illustrates that genetic adaptation to new diets has occurred in humans since the agricultural revolution.