"Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; & anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would. I dunno."
~Mark Twain, Was the World Made for Man?

An assessment of data from the Nurses' Health Study revealed that even modest weight gains double the risk of heartburn and acid reflux for women. Once the findings appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on May 25, 2006, extensive articles on the significance of the report appeared in the media, including a feature story in the Wall Street Journal ("Modest Weight Gain May Cause Frequent Heartburn in Women," May 31, 2006, p. D8). In addition to the negative consequences of added weight gain and heartburn, the positive news was that overweight women who reduce weight have fewer such problems. Most women who lost twenty or so pounds were also able to eliminate the costs (and risks) of medications for heartburn and acid reflux.

The work was done at Boston University Medical Center and was based on data reported by 10,545 nurses. Plans are being made to determine if similar findings can be expected in male populations.

The findings were not influenced by other obvious variables, such as smoking, drinking, diet and diabetes.

In my opinion, one of many reasons for scoffing at the notion of "intelligent design" (creationism, in other words) is that behaviors that sicken and kill take far too long to manifest themselves as assaults against nature ruinous to health. If there were a Great Wizard In The Sky who created everything, including us, surely he/she/it would have done a better job of it. The perturbations and horrors of life on earth, from mass extinctions to George W. Bush, make such a concept preposterous and offensive to reason.

However, my colleague Dr. Wendy Shore noted that "a true believer might counter by suggesting that it WAS an intelligent designer who made us so resilient to wretched self-abuse. Still, I agree with you -- no 'design' here or, at best, shoddy design by a mediocre deity-type who failed to safeguard one of many species against obesity and other slow-acting bad consequences of poor choices over time."

On a very small scale, such as the situation described in the study that links weight gain to heartburn in women, the absence of a bloody designer is painfully obvious. A designer with any sense at all would have made self-destructive situations much more obvious than is the case with contemporary humans shaped instead by evolution and dumb luck, good or bad depending on your outlook. A truly sensible designer would have made a dramatic connection between dysfunctional lifestyles and mortal consequences.

Here are some examples of how things would be with a designer involved who possessed good sense:

Neglect daily exercise of a vigorous and sustained nature to the point of gaining unnecessary weight? Heartburn kicks in and DOES NOT LET UP until the proper fitness level is regained.

Smoke a few cigarettes? Pimples appear on the nose and even in bodily areas "where the sun don't shine." Persistence in smoking leads to escalating pestilence and grotesqueries. Result -- only totally crazy people continue to smoke. Bye bye tobacco companies.

You get the idea. The human body has evolved to the point wherein it is far too resilient to self-abuses. We need a different kind of feedback system than any "designer," however intelligent, would likely imagine billions of years ago. As Sagan and others suggest, if all 4.6 billion years could be condensed to 24 hours, a highlight film narrator would not mention heartburn or cigarettes -- or humans, for that matter. I like to recall such facts as how, minutes after Earth condensed, it melted and reformed. Then a Mars-sized planet crashed into it, and a good chunk of Earth became our moon. Not so long after that, things went from bad to worse with the origin of life and, now, 23 hours and 59.99 seconds or so later, we're talking about overweight women, heartburn and acid reflux. Yet, the good news is we're also introducing wellness into the mix. What else can one do but give a whistle and look on the bright side of life?