Research Fails to Identify Causal Mechanism

A recent study of the Great Chinese Famine resulted in faulty conclusions and incomplete research on famine effects passed on to offspring, especially because the paper did not identify a causal mechanism. Researchers claimed that metabolism causes altered metabolism, but it only discussed a relationship between famine and metabolism.

Image credit: Pixabay / TusitaStudio

Before we continue with the research, a bit of history. The Great Chinese Famine of about 1958-1961 had several causes. Most egregious was Chairman Mousie Dung's incompetence. He was told that sparrows eat grain seeds, so he ordered sparrows killed — by the millions. Without the chirpie birdies around, locusts and other insects they ate went on a crop-eating rampage. People were starving, and Mao didn't release food in warehouses. The drought of 1960 made things even worse.

Now, back to our research paper. Like the famine was not the result of a single cause, neither is the result presented. In addition to not identifying a causal mechanism for the change in metabolism for later generations, researchers failed to understand that mothers did not necessarily pass along famine conditions to their unborn children. The child is in a safe environment, and our Creator enabled signals that the expectant mother passed along to her child so it could adapt. This is something supports biblical creation science.

A Chinese famine was so severe that 35 million lives perished between 1958 and 1962 due to the state's agricultural mistakes.1 Interestingly, this tragedy highlights an unseen biological relationship between organisms and their environment over multiple generations.

A large study recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition focuses on one Chinese city immersed in the famine.2 It compared the adult health status of residents between those who had prenatal (before birth) exposure to famine and those who were not exposed. Researchers wanted to see if famine exposure in parents correlated to the development of a high blood sugar concentration (hyperglycemia) and type 2 diabetes in their children and grandchildren.

Prenatal exposures in offspring were classified as having 1) no parent exposed to famine, 2) only a mother exposed to famine, 3) only a father exposed to famine, or 4) both parents exposed to famine. The researchers used standard diagnostic criteria for hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes.

To finish reading, click on "Pregnant Mom Transfers Famine Info to Baby". 

 



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