When sugar is not so sweet - the cause of Darwin’s 50 year illness
Charles Darwin teaches us we descended from apes. But monkeys don’t
keep cattle. Dairying is less than 8000 years old. We argue that Darwin
belongs to the two-thirds of the world’s adult population who cannot
digest properly the sugar in milk, lactose1,2. Darwin suffered from a
range of gut and systemic symptoms, described in his health diary (1849-
1835) as stomach ache, flatulence, belching, severe headache, sickness for
days on end, swimming head, concentration problems, rheumatic pain,
chronic fatigue, exhaustion, skin rashes, boils, mouth sores, chest
palpitations and depression1,2,3. Thus a mechanism is required that
explains all these symptoms. He suffered his first bout, heart
palpitations, while awaiting the Beagle to depart. He didn’t tell anyone
for fear that they wouldn’t let him go, revealing this years later in his
autobiography4. Explanations include Chagas disease, arsenic poisoning,
bereavement syndrome1, and cyclical vomiting syndrome4. None of these
explains all his symptoms. Furthermore, they are out of touch with 21st
century medicine, which rightly demands diagnoses include a molecular
mechanism, not simply a description of symptoms. Lactose and food
intolerance explain all Darwin’s symptoms2,5. Darwin had a sweet tooth,
and only got better without milk, on the Beagle and Gully’s water therapy.
His sea-sickness is a red herring. Sugars not fully digested in the small
intestine reach bacteria in the large intestine. These generate hydrogen,
methane, alcohols, diols, aldehydes, ketones, and acids, which affect gut
bacteria and cells around the body5, explaining Darwin’s symptoms. Darwin
missed the cause of his own illness, but also the key to our own evolution
– milk from the breast, the only source of lactose. This explains why
white Northern Europeans were able to move into the plains of Europe after
the last major glaciation, 10,000 years ago. Darwin’s Natural Selection
remains the unifying force in biology, and must be at the heart of modern
medicine, as we try to discover how evolution produced lactose, and the
selective advantage of the risk genes we all carry.
1. Campbell, AK and Matthews, SB. Darwin’s illness revealed. Post.
Grad. Med. J. 2005, 81,248-251.
2. Waud JP, Matthews SB, Campbell AK. Measurement of breath hydrogen and
methane, together with lactase genotype, defines the current best practice
for investigation of lactose sensitivity. Ann. Clin. Biochem. 2008, 45:50-
58.
3. Darwin CR. Autobiography 1809-1882. Edited Barlow, N and Freeman, R.
Pickering, London, 1989.
4. Hayman, JA . Darwin’s illness revisited. Brit Med J. 2009, 339,1413-
1415.
5. Campbell, AK, Jenkins-Waud, J and Matthews, SB. The Molecular Basis of
Lactose intolerance. Science Progress 2005, 88, 157-202.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
12 January 2010
Anthony K. Campbell
Professor in Medical Biochemistry and Director of the Darwin Centre,
Stephanie B. Matthews
Department of Infection, Immunity and Immunology, Cardiff University, CF14 4XN
Rapid Response:
When sugar is not so sweet - the cause of Darwin’s 50 year illness
Charles Darwin teaches us we descended from apes. But monkeys don’t
keep cattle. Dairying is less than 8000 years old. We argue that Darwin
belongs to the two-thirds of the world’s adult population who cannot
digest properly the sugar in milk, lactose1,2. Darwin suffered from a
range of gut and systemic symptoms, described in his health diary (1849-
1835) as stomach ache, flatulence, belching, severe headache, sickness for
days on end, swimming head, concentration problems, rheumatic pain,
chronic fatigue, exhaustion, skin rashes, boils, mouth sores, chest
palpitations and depression1,2,3. Thus a mechanism is required that
explains all these symptoms. He suffered his first bout, heart
palpitations, while awaiting the Beagle to depart. He didn’t tell anyone
for fear that they wouldn’t let him go, revealing this years later in his
autobiography4. Explanations include Chagas disease, arsenic poisoning,
bereavement syndrome1, and cyclical vomiting syndrome4. None of these
explains all his symptoms. Furthermore, they are out of touch with 21st
century medicine, which rightly demands diagnoses include a molecular
mechanism, not simply a description of symptoms. Lactose and food
intolerance explain all Darwin’s symptoms2,5. Darwin had a sweet tooth,
and only got better without milk, on the Beagle and Gully’s water therapy.
His sea-sickness is a red herring. Sugars not fully digested in the small
intestine reach bacteria in the large intestine. These generate hydrogen,
methane, alcohols, diols, aldehydes, ketones, and acids, which affect gut
bacteria and cells around the body5, explaining Darwin’s symptoms. Darwin
missed the cause of his own illness, but also the key to our own evolution
– milk from the breast, the only source of lactose. This explains why
white Northern Europeans were able to move into the plains of Europe after
the last major glaciation, 10,000 years ago. Darwin’s Natural Selection
remains the unifying force in biology, and must be at the heart of modern
medicine, as we try to discover how evolution produced lactose, and the
selective advantage of the risk genes we all carry.
1. Campbell, AK and Matthews, SB. Darwin’s illness revealed. Post.
Grad. Med. J. 2005, 81,248-251.
2. Waud JP, Matthews SB, Campbell AK. Measurement of breath hydrogen and
methane, together with lactase genotype, defines the current best practice
for investigation of lactose sensitivity. Ann. Clin. Biochem. 2008, 45:50-
58.
3. Darwin CR. Autobiography 1809-1882. Edited Barlow, N and Freeman, R.
Pickering, London, 1989.
4. Hayman, JA . Darwin’s illness revisited. Brit Med J. 2009, 339,1413-
1415.
5. Campbell, AK, Jenkins-Waud, J and Matthews, SB. The Molecular Basis of
Lactose intolerance. Science Progress 2005, 88, 157-202.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests