Hormonal Communication Exchanges

Most young people, especially those still in the process of growth, have a very high rate of metabolism, and the food they consume is quickly turned into energy. The reason for this is that, when they were younger, the body cells produce energy from their food at a higher rate.

When too little thyroxine hormone is secreted, a condition called hypothyroidism occurs. The result would cause the activity of the cells to slow down, the food you ate would turn to fat, you would not have enough energy to raise your arm, and your whole body would come to the point of exhaustion.
But even if you are not aware of it, your thyroid gland is working for you, secreting the thyroxine hormone that controls each one of the 100 trillion cells and prevents them from slowing down. As a result, you can live your daily life normally.

Thyroxine not only prevents the cells from moving too slowly, it also prevents them from working too fast. Because this hormone is secreted in a definite amount, the speed at which the cells work is kept in balance. If the cells of the body worked more quickly than they should, "toxic goiter" would develop, caused by the excessive secretion of thyroxine. Symptoms of this disease include the increase of the metabolic rate, a rise in body temperature and blood pressure, weight loss, excessive sweating and general nervousness. The eyes bulge in their sockets and, in advanced stages of this disease, blindness and even death (due to cardiac insufficiency) can result.

The tissues that make up the human body are continually being renewed. Every day approximately 200 grams of muscle and tissue cells are renewed. Every minute 200 million cells in our bodies are produced to replace dead cells, and it is the thyroxine hormone that determines the speed at which this renewal takes place.

How does this hormone-producing thyroid gland know the speed at which the cells in our bodies must function? How does it determine the speed of the replacement of body cells? The person himself does not even know the speed at which his body's cells have to function, and most people are not even aware that their body cells have a particular speed at which they must function. If someone wanted to interfere with the speed at which his body cells work, he could certainly not affect the cells with his own will. In order to do this, he would have to obtain medical help or take some medication. Human beings do not determine the speed at which their own cells work; this is under the control of that small piece of flesh called the thyroid gland.

How has the thyroid gland determined the ideal working speed for the cells? How does it know the working speed of the hundreds of different systems contained in the cells—systems that scientists are still investigating? Let scientists continue to try to understand these systems; the thyroid hormone knows all the details of these systems, including what kind of intervention is needed to increase their working speed. To do this, it produces a specific molecule type and sends them to each of the cells one by one. In light of this, we must accept that the cells, which make up the thyroid gland and produce thyroxine, have a much higher intelligence about this process than human beings.

Remember, like all the cells in the body, cells that compose the thyroid gland do not have any conscious intelligence.

A thyroid molecule is composed of lifeless, unconscious atoms. The cells perform their function according to humanly inconceivable genetic program written in their nuclei. This fact brings to light even more the enormity of the miracle of creation.

It is God, the possessor of eternal intelligence and knowledge, Who wonderfully created the cells of the body, the genetic program that determines the functioning of this system, and the inner systems of the cells that translate and interpret this genetic program.

Moreover, in the genetic programs of the cells that compose the thyroid gland, He wrote the molecular formula of the hormone that accelerates the activity of other cells. So it is evident that a remarkably harmonious system has been put in place which proves once more the perfection of God's creation. In the Qur'an, God reveals harmony and perfection that is seen everywhere in the world:

He Who created the seven heavens in layers. You will not find any flaw in the creation of the All-Merciful. Look again – do you see any gaps? Then look again and again. Your sight will return to you dazzled and exhausted! (Qur'an, 67: 3-4)