Lactase deficiency in Russia: multiethnic genetic study

Background Lactase persistence—the ability to digest lactose through adulthood—is closely related to evolutionary adaptations and has affected many populations since the beginning of cattle breeding. Nevertheless, the contrast initial phenotype, lactase non-persistence or adult lactase deficiency, is still observed in large numbers of people worldwide. Methods We performed a multiethnic genetic study of lactase deficiency on 24,439 people, the largest in Russia to date. The percent of each population group was estimated according to the local ancestry inference results. Additionally, we calculated frequencies of rs4988235 GG genotype in Russian regions using the information of current location and birthplace data from the client’s questionnaire. Results The attained results show that among all studied population groups, the frequency of GG genotype in rs4988235 is higher than the average in the European populations. In particular, the prevalence of lactase deficiency genotype in the East Slavs group was 42.8% (95% CI: 42.1–43.4%). We also investigated the regional prevalence of lactase deficiency based on the current place of residence. Conclusions Our study emphasizes the significance of genetic testing for diagnostics, i.e., specifically for lactose intolerance parameter, as well as the scale of the problem of lactase deficiency in Russia which needs to be addressed by the healthcare and food sectors.