Effects of Prohibited Foods on Human Hormones and Behaviour

Food:
"He has forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and flesh of swine, and on which any other name has been invoked besides that of Allah. But If one is forced by necessity without willful disobedience, nor transgressing, due limits....than he is not guilty, for Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." (2: 173)

" Forbidden to you are: Dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine and that on which has been invoked a name other than Allah's, and that killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which has been eaten by a wild animal, unless you are able to slaughter it; that which has been sacrificed on stone; (forbidden) also is the divination of arrows, that is impiety. (5:4)

"Say: I find not in the Message received by me by inspiration any meat forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat of it, unless it be dead meat, or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine, for it is an abomination, - or what is impious, (meat) on which a name has been invoked, other than God's. But even so, if a person is forced by necessity without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, - your Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (6:145)

"He has-only forbidden you dead meat, and blood; and the flesh of Swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than God has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, - our Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (16:115)

Intoxicants:
"They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them there is great sin, and some profit, for men, but sin is greater than the profit." (2:219)

"O you who believe! Approach not prayers, with a mind befogged, until you can understand all that you say." (4:43)

"O you who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handiwork. Avoid such (abomination) that you may prosper." (5:90)

"Satan's plan is to sow enmity and hatred among you with intoxicants and gambling, and to hinder you from the remembrance of Allah and from Prayer. Will you not then give up." ( 5:91)

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on the subject of lawful and prohibited.

1. "That which is lawful is plain and that which is unlawful is plain and between the two of them are doubtful matters about which many people do not now. Thus he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regards to his religion and his honor, but he who falls into doubtful matters falls into that which is unlawful." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

2. "Allah the Almighty has laid down religious duties, so do not neglect them; He has set boundaries, so do not cross them; He has rohibited some things, so do not violate them; about some things, He was silent out of compassion for you, not due to forgetfulness-, so do not seek after them." (Narrated by Abu Talaba Al Khushani Jurtum Bin Nashir-R.A. reported In Ad-Daraqutni.)

3. "Allah the Almighty is pure and accepts only that which is pure. Allah has asked the believers to do that He asked the messengers, and The Almighty has said: " 0 you messengers! Eat of the pure things and do right." (Qur'an, 23:5 1), and Allah the Almighty has said: "O you Who believe! Eat of the pure things that we have provided you." (Qur'an, 2:172)

Then the Prophet (PBUH) gave example of a man tired and dusty after a long journey, raises his hands to the sky and says: "O Lord! 0 Lord!".. while his food is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, his clothing is unlawful, and he is nourished unlawfully, so how can his prayers be answered?" (Muslim.)

Introduction

It is not required of the believer to always find a scientific justification for the divine prohibitions. However, if they look and find it, they must share the information, that will increase their faith. To the contrary, lack of confirmation should not question the authenticity of the Qur'an.

We believe that all Qur'anic statements are true, and if science has not confirmed some of them yet, it will do so in the future, may be it needs to examine its data more deeply or repeat the experiment. For the benefits of non-medical readers, before I describe the topic in question i.e. hormonal and behavioral effect of prohibited food, intoxicants and ingredients, I must define some medical terms and inter-relationships:

Hormones:

These are the powerful secretions of Endocrine (internal) glands. They control the functions of all organs, and even individual cells. They are made from proteins (peptides) or sterols in nature. The endocrine glands are hypothalamus which secretes various releasing hormones for pituitary, and pituitary which secretes hormones for target endocrine glands. Both of them are inside the brain. Target endocrine glands are thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones control our metabolism, energy level, and temperature tolerance.

Behind them are para-thyroid glands which control our calcium metabolism. In the abdomen are adrenal glands above the kidneys which secrete cortisone, the life saving essential hormone, and techolamines and aldosterone which control our blood pressure and heart-rate. Steroids and catecholamines are derived from cholesterol.

Also in the abdomen is the pancreas, which secretes insulin that lowers blood sugar, and glycogen which raises a low blood sugar. Lower down in the pelvis are gonads, ovaries in women, and testes in men, which secrete estrogen, progesterone and testosterone respectively.

All these hormones have internal control, and influence each other. They control our growth, muscle mass, bone development, temperature tolerance, blood pressure, energy, fertility, sex desire, thirst, and well being in general.

How do hormones affect behaviour

The site of secretion of releasing hormone, and of neurotransmitter in the brain are the same in the hypothalamic area. Most of the psychotropic drugs either act by increasing or decreasing the neurotransmitter levels i.e. epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine or endorphin level in the hypothalamic area.

Similarly, neurotransmitters influence hormone secretion. Clinically we see various behavioral manifestations in endocrine disorders.

Hypoglycemic patients (low blood sugar) suffer from depression and poor mental concentration and patients with low thyroid have impotency and depression, while patients with high thyroid have agitation, irritability, and lack of sleep. Patients with low cortisone (Addison Disease) have severe depression while with high cortisone have hallucination and psychosis.

Patients with high testosterone have been claimed to have criminal tendencies (i.e. rapists) while low testosterone have behavioral problems in adjustment.

Physiologically, boys and girls are different in playing behavior i.e. aggressive versus passive (playing with mechanical toys and guns versus dolls) due to difference in their sex hormone even in pre-puberty age. This becomes more obvious after full sex differentiation takes place. In fact, by changing the sex hormone level of a given sex one can change not only the sexual behavior but the aggressiveness of a particular sex. 

In one experiment, female rats whose mothers were treated with testosterone while pregnant showed male behavior pattern of threatening peer, rough play, and increased sexual activity as compared to a control rat. This shows that testosterone not only affects the individual, but the offspring as well.

Hormones, not directly but indirectly by controlling sugar, calcium, sodium balance, affect behavior in general to include anger, love, anxiety, panic attacks, and agitation. The hyperactivity in children could be due to low blood sugar or due to many food preservatives and coloring agent like nitrites, and Dye No. 5. After this much introduction of hormones, and behavior, I turn to the main theme.

Hormonal and behavioral effect of pork meat and fat ingestion

Pork meat and fat are not only prohibited to Muslims, but were also prohibited to Jews and Christians as well because "Swine were designed to be scavengers, to eat up filth." In Old Testament Leviticus Chapter 7-8, it is mentioned about swine " Though he divides the hoof and be cloven footed, yet he cheweth not the cud, he is unclean to you.

Of their flesh shall you not eat." There is no mention in the Bible that Jesus ever ate pork in his life. It was Paul who declared all food and drink permissible saying, "To the pure, everything is pure."

The life of the swine

To get a first hand idea, I interviewed farmers of Fisher, Indiana, who breed swine. According to them "Swine is cheaper to breed, since it does not require pasture, it can live on manure and other such items including dead meat. In fact, it can even eat its own feces.

Why is pork fat different from other animal fat

Fats are lipids, which are a source of energy. They can be of vegetable source or of animng) animals have unsaturated fatty acid on the position 2 of the triglyceride (tg) molecule, while the carnivorous (meat eating)animals have saturated fatty acid at the position 2. Pancreatic lipase (pl) can not hydrolyze TG molecule if saturated fatty acid at position 2. Fat of dogs, rats, cats, and pork, have saturated fatty acids on positions 2.

If a person eats fat of herbivorous animal, the fat will be hydrolyzed, absorbed, and then resynthesized and stored as human fat, while that of carnivorous animals and pork fat will not be hydrolyzed and therefore has to be deposited in humans as pork fat in the adipose tissue.

What has deposition of pork fat to do with hormone and behavior in humans

Circulating hormones are in bound form and free form. The free form has to be attached to receptor in fat tissue before becoming active. Obesity decreases the number of receptors therefore the hormones cannot be utilized. Therefore, if the hormone is insulin, it leads to diabetes (type 2); and if it is testosterone, it leads to sub fertility and amenorrhea. The amount of fat also controls hormone release.

Therefore we see menarche is delayed in athletic girls with less fat, and occurs early in sedentary overweight girls. It can be postulated that in humans who have pork fat deposit there is derangement in the binding of hormones, therefore they have a higher level of circulating active hormone. It is possible that the sexual promiscuity and deviant sexual practices of pork eating society is due to what they eat! After all, it has been said by nutritionists, "You are what you eat."

Since this is a paper on hormones and behavior, the time does not permit discussing the effect of pork on cholesterol, sodium and the relationship to heart disease.

al source. Triglycerides are neutral fats with 1 molecule of glycerol and three fatty acids. The fatty acids can be saturated or unsaturated. The more unsaturated fats have high melting points. The iodine value of fat gives the degree of nonsaturation.

The iodine value of lard is 65, beef 45, and mutton 32. After ingestion, emulsification of fat takes place in the stomach by gastric lipase. By pancreatic lipase hydrolysis of triglyceride into glycerol and fatty acids takes place. The fatty acids and glycerol are used by various tissues like muscle, heart, kidney, and liver for an energy source.

Herbivorous (plant eating) animals have unsaturated fatty acid on the position 2 of the triglyceride (tg) molecule, while the carnivorous (meat eating)animals have saturated fatty acid at the position 2. Pancreatic lipase (pl) can not hydrolyze TG molecule if saturated fatty acid at position 2. Fat of dogs, rats, cats, and pork, have saturated fatty acids on positions 2.

If a person eats fat of herbivorous animal, the fat will be hydrolyzed, absorbed, and then resynthesized and stored as human fat, while that of carnivorous animals and pork fat will not be hydrolyzed and therefore has to be deposited in humans as pork fat in the adipose tissue.

Home - Quran & Hadith – Charity - Family & Health – Islam – Miscellaneous – Matrimonials

Human Rights - Women – Newscenter – Boycott – Chechnya – Palestine - Links