The Prolactin Hormone

This hormone secreted by the pituitary gland stimulates the milk glands in a woman's breast causing the production of mother's milk. This production is under the control of the hypothalamus. How this hormone performs this function will be explained in detail in the section "The wonder of Mother's Milk."

The Oxytocin Hormone

This hormone is produced by the hypothalamus and stored in the posterior pituitary gland. It is secreted when necessary by the pituitary gland on receiving a neural stimulation from the hypothalamus. Its functions include contracting the milk channels. Other functions of the oxytocin hormone in the production of mother's milk is treated in detail in the section "The Wonder of Mother's Milk."

Oxytocin hormone is produced by the hypothalamus and stored in the posterior pituitary gland. At the correct time, a nerve signal is sent out by the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland causing it to secrete this hormone. Its purpose is to ensure the contraction of the milk channels and uterine muscles when the time of birth approaches. In this way, it facilitates the birth process.

In addition to its function in the production of mother's milk, the oxytocin hormone has another duty. It ensures the contraction of the muscles of the uterus at the time of birth to facilitate the birth process. During labor, the production of oxytocin quickly increases. At the same time, the uterine muscle develops a remarkable sensitivity to the oxytocin hormone.6 During the birth process, some women are given an injection of oxytocin to help relieve the pain and to speed the birth process.

In order for the production of oxytocin to occur normally, the cells which make up the hypothalamus must be aware of all the elements involved in the birth process that happen a great distance from them. They must know that birth is a difficult process and that they must contract the uterine muscles to push the baby out. Moreover, they must know that a chemical production is necessary for the contraction of the uterine muscles to occur, and they must know the correct formula.

The One Who places the production plan of the oxytocin hormone in the genes of the hypothalamus cells, Who creates the new baby about to come into the world, the mother, the mother's womb, and the hypothalamus cells is God.

The fact that God is the Sovereign of everything that happens in heaven and on Earth, and that everything comes to pass under His supervision is revealed in the Qur'an:

Everyone in the heavens and Earth belongs to Him. All are submissive to Him. It is He Who originated creation and then regenerates it. That is very easy for Him. His is the most exalted designation in the heavens and the Earth. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Qur'an, 30: 26-27)

The Wonder of Mother's Milk: The Prolactin and Oxytocin
Hormones at Work

The nutritional needs of a newly born baby are very different from those of an adult. Because a baby's immune system is weak compared to that of an adult, it is necessary to give it support from outside. The ideal nutrient to respond to all the new baby's needs is mother's milk. Research has shown that breast-fed children are much more healthy and their bodies are better developed.7

Another wonder of mother's milk is that it changes its composition according to the changing needs of the baby at each stage of its development. The huge baby food producers have spent millions of dollars on research trying to determine the ideal mixture of ingredients for a baby's healthy development. So far, they have not found a perfect mixture, but they have determined that a special mixture is needed to meet the requirements of the baby at each stage of its development. In laboratories equipped with the most advanced technology, attempts have been made to produce artificial baby food similar to mother's milk, but no artificial nutrient has yet been developed to take its place.

Here is a real wonder. A few cells in the mother's breast calculate all the needs of a newborn baby in the outside world; that is, the needs of a being they have never before seen or encountered. Then they produce what scientists have never succeeded in producing in the laboratory- mother's milk with its perfect mixture of nutrients. However, the cells that make up the milk glands in the mother's breast are, like other cells, unconscious, without intelligence; yet it is possible for them to calculate the formula needed to produce it.

How does the production of mother's milk begin and how is it controlled? A number of wonders of creation are hidden in the answer to this question. In the production of milk, the hormonal system and the nervous system work in concert and the production occurs after planning based on an exchange of information.

The hormone that activates the milk glands in the mother's breast, as noted, is the prolactin hormone secreted by the pituitary gland. In the early days of pregnancy, certain factors suppress the secretion of prolactin. These factors are like a foot pressing on the brake of an automobile going down a hill. The automobile tends to go downhill, but when the brake is applied, it cannot move. The production of milk is hindered in the mother.

The hindering of prolactin production is very important because, while the baby is still unborn, the milk production in the mother is not needed. How is this brake applied, and how is premature secretion prevented? Here is a true wonder of design. The hypothalamus in the brain secretes a hormone that prevents the production of prolactin. This hormone, called PIH (Prolactin Inhibiting Hormone), slows down the production of prolactin or, in other words, applies the brake.

Who decides to apply the brake? Estrogen, a hormone produced during pregnancy, ensures that the brake is applied by producing PIH. When the baby is born, the amount of estrogen secreted is reduced, which also reduces the amount of PIH. This is like the foot slowly releasing the brake and the car moving down the hill. In this way, the production of prolactin slowly begins and activates the milk glands to produce mother's milk.

Here we see a real wonder of creation. Thanks to this design, the production of milk is prevented during the first months of pregnancy. Consider this whole system carefully:

1. Where do the cells of the pituitary gland that produce prolactin know the milk glands from? With what conscious intelligence do they give the command to the milk producing cells to produce milk?

2. How do the hormones that prevent the production of prolactin before birth know that the time for milk production has not quite come?

3. How do these hormones learn that prolactin causes the production of milk and that, to prevent the production of milk, the production of prolactin must be inhibited?

Yet another system stimulates the production of mother's milk at the right time; this system is another proof that shows how deliberately the human body is created.

When the baby sucks the milk, nerve cells in the mother's breast send a nerve impulse to the hypothalamus. This impulse affects the hypothalamus and ensures that it removes the brake from the prolactin. In this way, the production of prolactin increases and the milk glands are stimulated for milk production.

From the time of birth, specific receptors are designed in the mother's breast that recognize the baby's sucking reflex. These sensory receptors are connected via neural pathways-similar to electric cables in a building-to another distant organ, the hypothalamus area of the brain. That is, a special system has been created to inform the hypothalamus that the baby's sucking reflex has begun. From among the countless possibilities within the human body composed of flesh and bones, these neural signals travel to the right location. They are not connected by accident to the brain's vision center, the stomach or the intestines; they are connected to exactly the right place, that is, to the hypothalamus.

1) When the baby beings to suck, some nerve cells in the mother's breast send a message to the hypothalamus. 2) On receiving the message, the hypothalamus removes the brake from the prolactin. 3-4) In order to begin the production of mother's milk, the prolactin secreted by the pituitary gland stimulates the milk glands in the mother's breast.

When this electric signal reaches the hypothalamus cells, they begin the necessary operation for the production of mother's milk. But these cells have no intelligence or consciousness of their own. They cannot possibly know that this signal has come from the mother's breast or that they have been informed of the baby's sucking reflex and, therefore, that mother's milk must be secreted; they cannot know that an important function has been assigned to them in the production of mother's milk, or that they must increase the production of prolactin to activate the milk glands. This being the case, what causes these unconscious cells to engage in this conscious activity?

Who has placed the receptors in the mother's breast?

Who provided the cables to carry the signals sent by these receptors?

Who attached the ends of these cables to the hypothalamus?

Who taught the cells of the hypothalamus that they must stimulate the pituitary gland when these signals come?

Who wrote the formula for activating the milk glands in the cells that make up the pituitary gland?

Who created the circulatory system to ensure that this hormone reaches the mother's breast from the pituitary gland in the brain?

Who created the breast cells in such a way as to become activated when this hormone comes?

Who taught the breast cells the unique formula of mother's milk, a formula which even yet scientists cannot reproduce?

To all these questions there is only one answer: Almighty God, the Lord of all the worlds.

Thanks to scientific and technical advances, it is possible for humans to examine the human body more carefully. This possibility shows the degree of intelligence and planning with which the systems in the human body were created and reveals the creative artistry of God.

For those who reject the existence of God, there is, as always, only one delusion in which they can take refuge-time and chance.

These people accept only chance and the outworking of natural law as the origins of the plan and artistry displayed in living things and in the universe as a whole. But what we have explained above in superficial detail about mother's milk is enough to show the meaninglessness of this claim.

It is scientifically impossible that any one of the thousands of different elements in this system, for example, the breast, the pituitary gland, a nerve or a cell of the hypothalamus or even a single hormone could have come to be by evolution. It is necessary that each element of this system, together with the ancillary systems needed to ensure survival (for example, the circulatory and respiratory systems), come into existence suddenly and at the right location where they are needed to perform their specific functions. Only one explanation exists for this: this system is created by God.

Another proof of creation in the wonder of mother's milk is the oxytocin hormone.

Above we have described the perfect design that exists for the production of mother's milk. But there is a problem: the production of the milk in the milk glands is not sufficient. With his strength alone, the baby cannot suck the milk from the nipple as easily as from a feeding bottle; the milk must travel from the milk glands to the nipple. Otherwise, the system we have described so far will be useless; the mother's milk will not be able to reach nipple from the milk glands and the newborn baby will not receive any nourishment. So, how is the milk made to reach the nipple and the baby?

The countless numbers of people throughout history who have been fed on mother's milk-ourselves included-owe a debt to the oxytocin hormone.

This hormone ensures the contraction of the muscles surrounding the milk channels, moves the milk from the milk glands toward the nipple where it is easily accessible to the baby at breast-feeding time.

Very well. How do the cells that produce the oxytocin hormone know that the milk must reach the mother nipple before it can be used, and that otherwise the baby would not be able to feed? And even if they knew this, how could they know the proper means needed to cause the cells in the milk channels contract?

These are the questions that must be asked by anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the excellence of this system. The conscious intelligence that is manifested in every cell in the human body bears witness to the eternal knowledge of God Who created them from nothing. In the Qur'an, God reveals that He Himself has ordered everything in heaven and on Earth.

He directs the whole affair from heaven to Earth… (Qur'an, 32: 5)

The System That Regulates the Amount of Fluid in the Blood:
The Antidiuretic Hormone

Do you know how much fluid there must be in your body to be healthy? Can you calculate how many grams of fluid you take in from the food you eat and the liquids you drink every day? Or can you determine how much of this fluid you must discharge from your body in the same period of time? Can you figure out how many grams of fluid there are in your blood every second of the day, or the level of fluid in your body tissues, or your blood pressure?

Water is the compound that the human body needs most. If the body loses only about 10% of its water, it cannot survive. But a person can never measure the amount of water present in his body or take measures to affect it, but his body already has a flawless system to undertake this duty on his behalf.

If the duty of calculating these numbers were given to each human being, he would be required to devote all his time to this job. This is very important because the human body must be prevented from losing too much fluid. If the fluid loss reached around ten per cent of the body's normal fluid level, death would result.

But a person does not need to measure the amount of fluid in his own body because his body has a system that regulates and orders the fluid level. If you were to examine the details of this system, you would encounter a surprising wonder of engineering and planning.

Loss of body fluid results from sweating or not drinking enough water. If there were no special system in our bodies, no matter how low the density of blood fluids might fall, you would not know it and would eventually die. How is the decrease in the amount of blood fluid sensed and with what measures is it corrected?

There are special sensors in the hypothalamus area of the brain called osmoreceptors. These sensors measure the amount of fluid in your blood at every moment you are alive. If they determine that the amount of fluid in the blood has fallen, they immediately react.

Water and waste products are expelled from the body through the kidneys, intestines, lungs, liver and skin.

If we substitute a human being in the place of one of these receptors in the hypothalamus, this person would have to measure the amount of fluid in the blood for 24 hours without tiring and without sleeping for all his life. Of course, it is impossible for a human being to carry out such a duty, yet a group of cells devotes its whole life to calculating the amount of fluid in the blood. This shows that this group of cells is performing a function that has been given to it. The hypothalamus does its job under the inspiration of God.

Let us assume that the amount of water in blood has dropped. Under this circumstance, what would a human being who was put in the place of these receptor cells have to do? If it were impossible to take a drink of water, how would you raise the amount of fluid in the blood?

If you had no training in biology, it may not enter your mind to purify the water molecules in the urine and send them back to the blood. Even if such an idea came to your mind, you would not know how to achieve this.

At the moment the sensor cells in the hypothalamus detect a fall in the fluid level of the blood, they react with great ingenuity. They make use of a very special messenger hormone (the antidiuretic hormone, ADH) reserved in the pituitary gland. This message is written for the cells surrounding the millions of microscopic tubules in the kidneys. A message is sent to these cells, ordering them to keep back the water molecules in the urine.

If it were left to a human being to measure the amount of fluid in his blood and to take measures according to the result, he would need the most advanced laboratory. And he would have to observe what was happening in the blood night and day without taking a break. A human being would encounter countless difficulties in carrying out this duty (if he could even do it), but tiny cells manage it expertly.

At this point, several questions come to mind: How do cells located in the pituitary gland have the intelligence to send orders to kidney cells far distant from themselves and which they have never seen before? How can they write a message that the kidney cells will understand and obey?

Thanks to this communication system, they purify a great number of water molecules in the urine and mix them with the blood again. As a result, the amount of urine is reduced and fluid in the body is restored to a certain level.

In the case that we have drunk too much water, the reverse operation is put into effect. When the fluid level of the blood increases, the sensors in the hypothalamus slow down the release of the ADH hormone. When this happens, the absorption of fluid in the kidneys is decreased. The amount of urine increases and fluid level in the blood is held in balance.

A characteristic of the ADH hormone is its ability to contract the blood vessels to cause an increase in blood pressure. This is a very well designed security assurance system and another proof of the fact that human beings are specially created. In order for such a security system to function, a comprehensive plan has been put into effect. In the upper chambers of the heart and in the veins coming into the heart, special devices have been placed to measure the pressure of the blood. The cables (nerves) coming from these devices are connected to the pituitary gland. When blood pressure is normal, these devices are stimulated and continuously send electrical impulses to the pituitary gland to prevent the release of the ADH hormone.8

This system resembles an alarm system that uses infrared rays. If a thief unknowingly comes into contact with one of these rays, the connection between a source of light and a receiver is broken and an alarm sounds.

As in this example, when the pituitary receives a signal from the receptors in the heart and veins, it means that all is well.

When the level of fluid in the blood falls, a message comes to the hypothalamus. As a result of this, nerve cells in the hypothalamus send a message for ADH to be secreted. The ADH hormone ensures that more fluid will be absorbed back from the kidneys. After the blood is diluted, the secretion of ADH stops.

In the case of heavy bleeding, a person loses a lot of blood, and the amount of blood in the veins decreases. As a result, the blood pressure falls, a very dangerous condition.

When blood pressures falls, the signal sent to the pituitary gland from the receptors in the heart and the veins is broken, causing the pituitary gland to go into a state of alarm and secrete the ADH hormone. The ADH hormone immediately causes the muscles around the veins to contract, thus raising the blood pressure. In order to understand this very complex, interrelated and multifaceted system, a few details are necessary.

As long as a signal reaches the pituitary gland from the receptors in the heart and blood vessels, everything goes well. But when blood pressure drops, the signal ceases. This causes the pituitary gland to take the required measures. This system resembles an infrared alarm system. As long as the infrared signal continues, there is no problem. But if the signal is interrupted for any reason (as in the picture above), the alarm sounds.

1. How do the hypothalamus cells, which produce the ADH hormone, know the structure of the cells that surround the veins, cells that are located at a great distance from them?

2. How do they know that these muscles must contract in order for blood pressure to increase?

3. How is it that these cells can produce the chemical formula to bring about this contraction?

4. Where did the neural "transmission cables" of this communication network between the heart and the pituitary gland to produce such a perfect alarm system come from?

Certainly, we have here a real design which shows that human beings did not come into being by the unconscious operation involving chance, but as the result of a perfect act of creation. The evolutionists' claim that the body's communication and alarm system is the result of chance and necessity, that the cells themselves contrived, designed, and constructed this system is contrary to reason. Such a claim is like asserting that a pile of cement, bricks and electrical cable were unloaded on a plot of land and three storms happened: as a result of the first, these building materials formed a skyscraper; after the second, they furnished the skyscraper with an electrical system; and after the third, they put a perfect security system in the building. No one with common sense would accept such an illogical claim. But the evolutionists make even more illogical assertions. Evolutionists, who dogmatically insist on not accepting the existence of God, defend the theory of evolution without considering how contrary to reason their denials are.

However, it is very evident that God exists and that He has created everything in the heavens and on the Earth according to a perfect design:

... Everything in the heavens and Earth belongs to Him. Everything is obedient to Him, the Originator of the heavens and Earth. When He decides on something, He just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Qur'an, 2: 116-117)

6 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of The Human Body, p. 81
7 Biological Science: A Moleculer Approach, p. 523