Posted on 06/24/2004 8:13:42 AM PDT by presidio9
A German toddler has massive muscles and can lift far heavier weights than other kids his age because of a natural genetic mutation, Markus Schuelke, a neurology specialist in Berlin, said on Thursday.
Schuelke first examined the child, now four, as a new-born baby when his extraordinary muscle mass caused fears he might have a muscular problem.
But the baby has developed into a healthy boy, normal apart from having muscles twice as big as normal which enable him to lift three kilo (6.6 lb) weights.
Doctors have now proved for the first time that the child's muscles grew so large because of the absence or malfunctioning of the growth-curbing hormone myostatin.
"Myostatin acts as a stop-sign to muscle growth. If it is removed, muscles will continue to develop," said Schuelke.
The discovery may enable doctors eventually to use myostatin hormone therapy to treat people with muscular dystrophy, a degenerative condition for which there is no cure, he said.
I bet he has big feet, too...
haven't scientists done experimentation on mice on this topic? I seem to recall something along these lines, recently.
I think Myostatin hormone therapy will be the new vanity craze -- the new cosmetic surgery -- of the next decade, if not before.
Look like Schwarzenegger without working out. I think there might possibly be a market for that, over and above the market for a muscular dystrophy treatment.
The "supplent" industry is already selling myostatin blockers (they claim).
Why would Rueters write about this without providing pix? Anyone out there have a pic of this kid?
ARnold Schwarzenegger's kid?
Reuters reportage has finally achieved supermarket checkout line credibility they've obviously been seeking.
"Natural", my extremely developed gluteus maximus. Call me tinfoil, but I think this kid was genetically engineered.
I love the way they make every sentence its own paragraph.
It looks like post-modernist poetry.
The bodybuilding community is always WAY ahead of everyone else. They have already been into looking for myostatin suppressing agents. As another poster has shown, they sell stuff that supposedly does this. Those guys will try ANYTHING to get a little bigger, or get a little more "cut". Heck, when I was lifting hard, I was lo-carbing it a decade ago. Now this low-carb thing seems like a silly fad (no, I am not a low-carb basher, it works, I just dont like this new found fascination with it, it bugs me, sheeple and all...)
Article implies that they already have a chemical compound that will knock out myostatin production.
Flex Wheeler and Ron Coleman also supposedly exhibit the "double muscling" phenomenon.
Bring it on. I'd love a short cut to get that big.
It is unusual for a 4 year old to be able to lift 6.6 lbs?
Where are you getting his age from?
Thanks. Very weird.
But the baby has developed into a healthy boy, normal apart from having muscles twice as big as normal which enable him to lift three kilo (6.6 lb) weights.
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