Evolution Caused Heart Attacks?

Psalm 103:3
“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;”

Heart disease is one of the most serious causes of death among the population of the United States. 610,000 Americans die of heart disease every year – 25% of all deaths. Thousands of books have been written on this subject, referring to multiple possible causes. One recent article suggested that the propensity of human beings for heart disease is because we evolved.

The article suggested that heart attacks in chimpanzees do not have the same cause as in humans. Evolutionists consider chimpanzees to be very close in their evolutionary tree of life to humans. So they suggest that during our evolution from a common ancestor with the chimps, we lost a gene that produced an acid sugar molecule called Neu5Gc. Researchers studied mice, which are reputed to have similar body chemistry to humans, but that normally produce Neu5Gc themselves. Mice which had been made deficient in this molecule were more susceptible to atherosclerosis than those that produced higher amounts of the sugar. Atherosclerosis is that clogging of the arteries by cholesterol and fatty deposits which can lead to heart disease.

This is a rather backward way of trying to provide evidence for evolution as the supposed mutation, if it had occurred, made humans more likely to die of heart disease, so that they are worse off than without that mutation. For our part, we are aware that disease is a corollary of sin, and God will remove diseases from the world to come.

Prayer: Father God, we pray for continued health and strength and healing of our loved ones who are sick. We praise You that one day all sickness will be a thing of the past. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: University of California – San Diego. “Evolutionary gene loss may help explain why only humans are prone to heart attacks.” ScienceDaily, 23 July 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190723182255.htm>. Image: Adobe Stock Images, licensed to author.