by Jack
For most of us, going to the gym is boring. We have better things we could be doing than repetitious exercise. Good news! Enter a huge break-thru in muscle building. But, this discovery, actually discoveries, is more than just a way to avoid sweat and body odor, it could be a life sustaining treatment for people affected with serious muscle atrophy from disease or old age.
We’ve known for a long time that a protein in the body called myostatin limits muscle growth. Now researchers at Johns Hopkins found a way to turn off myostatin and this allowed rapid muscle growth. Of course with muscle growth your calorie burn is greater and this could enhance weight loss with a sensible diet. I could see this product flying off the shelves. The human clinical trial phase is still ongoing, but it looks very promising.
Researchers believe they may be on to a way of restoring an aging persons muscle mass to that of a 20 year old.
Along the same line of thought a University of Pennsylvania researcher seeking ways to treat illness said that studies in rats show that muscle mass, strength and endurance can be increased by injections of a gene-manipulated virus that goes to muscle tissue and causes a rapid growth of cells.
And the most recent discovery was the gene responsible for muscle growth. a synthetic version of that gene has been tried in lab rats with startling results, muscle bound rats!
Which therapy will prove to be the safest and most beneficial remains to be seen, but science seems to be very close to perfecting the muscle enhancement formula. This raises ethical questions because none of the above treatments can be detected by current anti-doping methods.
Steroids and high levels of testosterone have been shown to develop human growth and enhance muscle production, but it comes at a cost. High testosterone from birth retard normal brain development which lowers IQ and leads to a number of side effects from ADD to a lack of impulse control. Steroid and high testosterone levels may contribute to undesirable aggressive behaviors, as found in prison inmates. Steroids are banned in competitive sports.
As John Denver used to say, “Far out!”
If whtever they come up with works without horrible side effects.
Time will tell. Someone suffering from osteoporosis may want to proceed with caution.