Somewhere in Germany is a baby Superman, born in Berlin with bulging arm and leg muscles.
Not yet five, he can hold 3,15kg weights with arms extended, something many adults cannot do. He has muscles twice the size of other children his age and half their body fat.
DNA testing showed why: the boy has a genetic mutation that boosts muscle growth.
The discovery, reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, marks the first documented human case of such a mutation.
Many scientists believe the find could lead to drugs for treating people with muscular dystrophy and other muscle-wasting conditions. And athletes would almost surely want to get their hands on such a drug and use it like steroids to bulk up.
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The boy's mutant DNA segment was found to block the production of a protein called myostatin, which limits muscle growth. This comes seven years after researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore created "mighty mice" by "turning off" the gene that directs cells to produce myostatin.
Researchers would not disclose the boy's identity but said he was born to a somewhat muscular mother, a 24-year-old former professional sprinter. Her brother and three other close male relatives all were unusually strong, with one of them a construction worker able to unload heavy kerbstones by hand. - Sapa-AP
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on June 24, 2004
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