"The onset of pregnancy presents an apparent contradiction. Ovulating and initially pregnant mothers experience an increase in progesterone. On the one hand, this hormone signals the immune system to back down and lay low. That's critical, because otherwise her body would fight and kill sperm cells as though they were unwelcome invaders, and she would never become pregnant.
But on the other hand, progesterone reduces cholesterol levels in her body. Too much progesterone would doom a developing baby, who requires cholesterol. Why would one action both promote and prevent a single outcome?
Publishing in the June 2013 issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, the authors first noted that many infections, caused by both viruses and bacteria, either depend on or are enhanced by cholesterol-containing "lipid rafts" embedded on cell membranes. The invaders link to the lipids, using them as doors to access and infect cells, causing disease.
Normally, a woman's immune system provides plenty of protection from such potential pathogens, but when her progesterone levels rise, her immune system diminishes, making her more susceptible to disease (while making her susceptible to pregnancy).
By decreasing cholesterol levels at the same time as decreasing immune response, her body shrinks the number of doors available to potential invaders—and she and her baby remain protected. Early in the first trimester, the baby is so small that its greatest need is for a healthy mother. Later during pregnancy, progesterone levels drop, and this enables both the mother's immune system and her tiny baby's required supply of cholesterol to ramp up at the perfect pace.
The study authors wrote, "Cholesterol modulation appears to be exquisitely timed over the course of pregnancy, closely matching the shifting importance of combating pathogens and building fetal tissue."
Because this particular body system is so clearly the product of purposeful design, the Creator—not nature—should get the credit for originally inventing the "exquisitely timed" hormones required for human reproduction." ICR
But on the other hand, progesterone reduces cholesterol levels in her body. Too much progesterone would doom a developing baby, who requires cholesterol. Why would one action both promote and prevent a single outcome?
Publishing in the June 2013 issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, the authors first noted that many infections, caused by both viruses and bacteria, either depend on or are enhanced by cholesterol-containing "lipid rafts" embedded on cell membranes. The invaders link to the lipids, using them as doors to access and infect cells, causing disease.
Normally, a woman's immune system provides plenty of protection from such potential pathogens, but when her progesterone levels rise, her immune system diminishes, making her more susceptible to disease (while making her susceptible to pregnancy).
By decreasing cholesterol levels at the same time as decreasing immune response, her body shrinks the number of doors available to potential invaders—and she and her baby remain protected. Early in the first trimester, the baby is so small that its greatest need is for a healthy mother. Later during pregnancy, progesterone levels drop, and this enables both the mother's immune system and her tiny baby's required supply of cholesterol to ramp up at the perfect pace.
The study authors wrote, "Cholesterol modulation appears to be exquisitely timed over the course of pregnancy, closely matching the shifting importance of combating pathogens and building fetal tissue."
Because this particular body system is so clearly the product of purposeful design, the Creator—not nature—should get the credit for originally inventing the "exquisitely timed" hormones required for human reproduction." ICR
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Psalm 139:14
