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Chapter 30: The Individual Variable

You are not a generic human. Your specific ancestry carries specific adaptations accumulated over thousands of years -- and the optimal mismatch correction is different for everyone.

Key Insights

65% of humans can't digest dairy as adults -- but if your ancestors were northern European pastoralists, you probably can

Tibetan altitude genes, Inuit fat-metabolism genes, and sub-Saharan malaria resistance all show recent, rapid local adaptation

The AMY1 gene for starch digestion varies dramatically between populations -- high-starch ancestry means more copies, better digestion

Your DNA is a travel journal: it records the latitudes, altitudes, diets, and climates your specific lineage adapted to

One-size-fits-all health advice ignores thousands of years of population-specific evolution

Read the full chapter to discover what your specific ancestry tells you about what your body actually needs.

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