Health: The Baby With A Double Dose Of Muscles

The mother was healthy and the pregnancy normal. But as soon as her baby was born, doctors were struck by the infant’s extraordinary muscularity. By 7 months, he had a bodybuilder’s pumped-up proportions. Researchers determined that the baby had a double dose of a mutation that inactivates a protein that restrains muscle development (a mutation also seen in mice and cattle). While scientists hope that pinpointing the mutation will help them learn how to reverse muscle wasting from disease, they also know that someday somebody will try to parlay it into a performance-enhancing drug. –By David Bjerklie