MYOSTATIN – IS THIS THE FUTURE

Is this the future of muscular growth and athletic performance? Blocking myostatin, a protein that prevents muscle growth to ensure that there is not an overgrowth of muscle tissues, may just be the future of athletic performance. Read this article to learn more. In 1997 geneticists Alexandra McPherron and Se-Jin Lee discovered the gene encoding myostatin. They produced a strain of mutant mice that lacked the gene and they named them “mighty mouse” due to the fact that they had twice the amount of muscle than normal mice. In 2005 an American boy named Liam Hoekstra was born, Liam was diagnosed with a mutation in the gene, his body produces a normal level of functional myostatin, but because he is stronger and more muscular than most others his age, his doctor believes that a defect in his myostatin receptors prevents his muscle cells from responding normally to myostatin. Liam appeared on the television show World’s Strongest Toddler. Enter the future of athletic performance enhancement. In 2003 a Bulgarian journal published an article that showed that a brown seaweed name Cystoseira Canareinsis was able to block myostatin in vitro, while no human trials were performed it didn’t stop one supplement company who bought out the first myostatin blocker containing the seaweed. Eventually these supplements were proven ineffective due to the fact that the supplement actually interfered with another protein in the body. Pharmaceutical companies have developed two drugs to date with one being proven successful on a trial on monkeys in 2009. So far they do know that the inhibition of myostatin leads to muscle hypertrophy that may improve athletic performance, therefore there is strong concern that athletes may abuse inhibitors for performance enhancement. A drug for humans will no doubt be produced successfully in the future, however due to issues with clinical human trials this will still be a fair while away. Interesting indeed! In the mean time creatine supplementation effectively decreases myostatin so keep stocking up.

Ash Mason – Xtreme Results Director