¿Leche para todos?: Persistencia de las recomendaciones universales frente a la diversidad genética poblacional en Jujuy, Argentina

Madalena F. Monteban; Lorena Claudia García

doi:10.18294/sc.2026.6035

Milk for everyone?: The persistence of universal recommendations in the face of population genetic diversity in Jujuy, Argentina

Madalena F. Monteban PhD in Anthropology. Research Assistant, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Regional Social Sciences and Humanities Executive Unit, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina. , Lorena Claudia García Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. Doctoral fellow, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Regional Social Sciences and Humanities Executive Unit, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina.

Received: 19 November 2025, Accepted: 17 April 2026, Published: 3 June 2026

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2026.6035

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Abstract

Dietary guidelines universally recommend the consumption of 2–3 daily servings of dairy products, without considering regional population-level genetic variation. In the province of Jujuy, Argentina, genetic evidence documents between 53% and 69% Indigenous ancestry in the general population, suggesting a high prevalence of primary hypolactasia. This essay analyzes the disconnection between universal nutritional policies and the genetic composition of populations with high Indigenous ancestry through four analytical axes: 1) hypolactasia as the global majority condition (affecting 65%–70% of the world population) and the cultural mediations surrounding dairy consumption; 2) the historical trajectories of dairy policies in Latin America since the mid-twentieth century, documenting how scientific research since the 1960s identified high prevalences of hypolactasia in Latin American populations; 3) food practices within health and educational institutions in Jujuy, documenting how the systematic rejection of liquid milk is conceptualized as a cultural-educational rather than a physiological phenomenon; and 4) the design of culturally situated public nutritional policies. The analysis shows that, half a century after the scientific literature identified this phenomenon, Argentine policies continue to naturalize the minority European metabolic pattern as a universal norm. The article proposes the development of a supplement to the national dietary guidelines for Jujuy that explicitly acknowledges population genetic diversity and offers multiple pathways to meet calcium requirements, following the model of other Argentine public health interventions based on population prevalences.

Keywords: Lactose Intolerance, Genetic Variation, Nutrition Programs and Policies, Indigenous Peoples, Food Guide, Argentina

Categories: Anthropology, Feeding, Policies

Funding: Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica | PICTO-2017-0111 , Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Full-text of the article is available for this language: Español.

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