Pictured here by the AP, carrying his 11-month-old grandson to the hospital. The 48 pound boy consumes five liters of milk and one kilogram of rice-flour every day, and is believed to suffer from a rare hormonal disorder.
May 9, 2005
21 comments
on May 9, 2005 6:39 PM · Direct link
awesome!...i love fat babies.
i hope it's okay, though. Neither baby, nor grandpa look so happy.
on May 9, 2005 7:11 PM · Direct link
Caulcutta's youngest sumo wrestler ...
except that the poor kid must be suffering. Ouch.
on May 9, 2005 7:15 PM · Direct link
AMMMAAAAA, PAKORA!!!!!
I couldn't resist the Bombay to Goa reference. Just couldn't.
on May 9, 2005 7:19 PM · Direct link
That's just great. Germans grow muscular babies who are genetic freaks, we grow fatties.
on May 9, 2005 7:27 PM · Direct link
I should probably leave this to MD, but the rare hormonal disorder sounds like congenital leptin deficiency to me. Yikes.
on May 9, 2005 7:38 PM · Direct link
"I should probably leave this to MD, but the rare hormonal disorder sounds like congenital leptin deficiency to me. Yikes."
Wow- I think theres only been something like two people in the world who are actually leptin deficient. But it sure seems like he might be one of them.
on May 9, 2005 8:00 PM · Direct link
wow.
sorry to be the unfunny guy in the party, but when did we decide that its cool and acceptable to make fun of small kids with genetic disorders?
on May 9, 2005 8:57 PM · Direct link
Okay, now I'm going full-on nerd, but what's interesting about the two cases of congenital leptin deficiency Sonia is referring to (via Nature) is the following:
It should be pointed out that the control subjects in these studies were Caucasians from the UK, whereas the probands and their family members are all of Pakistani descent.The plot thickens...
on May 9, 2005 9:09 PM · Direct link
Well the good news is that if is indeed icongential leptin deficiency then there is a treatment. Recombinant leptin therapy has proven to work in the past.
on May 9, 2005 9:14 PM · Direct link
I hope they can find a way to regulate the baby's hormones. On a sidenote, I noticed he's not wearing any underwear. Now if my kid was drinking 5 liters of milk, i'd make sure there was some type of barrier between my head and his urinator.
on May 10, 2005 3:24 AM · Direct link
sorry to be the unfunny guy in the party, but when did we decide that its cool and acceptable to make fun of small kids with genetic disorders?
When we decided it was a juvenile and, for now, mostly harmless way of letting off some steam and backhandedly expressing our sympathetic unhappiness for this child.
on May 10, 2005 10:35 AM · Direct link
he's ADORABLE!!!
but then my concern for his health wins out and I panic...
on May 10, 2005 12:56 PM · Direct link
consumes five liters of milk and one kilogram of rice-flour every day
He's welcome in Wisconsin any day.
What a cutie! I love fat babies, too.
on May 10, 2005 6:40 PM · Direct link
brimful
MD is a pathologist and has very little contact with Pediatrics or pediatric pathology and hasn't a clue unless she does a little cracking open of the books :)
Hormonal problem? But why is this child taking in so much milk and rice? Wouldn't any child eating that much a day at that age be, well, zaftig? Those are adult amounts of calories, no? Why are they feeding this child this much? Surely at this age you can control how much he/she eats? I know of syndromes where children eat everything around them, but that doesn't seem likely......
Dunno, will get back to you.
on May 10, 2005 6:44 PM · Direct link
Tough to tell from a picture, so take this with a grain of salt, but are those shiny patches, stretch marks? Under the arm.....
on May 10, 2005 7:16 PM · Direct link
MD, :) I know you're a pathologist- that was just my silly way of pointing out that I am not an MD (of any kind whatsoever) and am talking out of pure speculation.
I did once work on research connected to leptin deficiency though, and based on that, I'll just comment that kids that have this disorder are unable to control their appetite. So, unless his parents are really doting on him excessively, he may actually be demanding the inordinate amounts of food.
on May 10, 2005 7:25 PM · Direct link
Brimful:
im curious what kind of research did you do with leptin deficiency? I forwarded the article to a friend of mine who works for one of the researchers that discovered letpin/leptin receptor and said there are a host of other hormones that can cause such obesity. Hard to tell without any other info.
on May 10, 2005 7:39 PM · Direct link
Sonia, without getting too off-topic (actually, I'm already guilty as charged), I worked on developing inhibitors and agonists for some of the downstream receptors of leptin. E-mail if you want more nerdery! ;)
on May 10, 2005 8:07 PM · Direct link
How fascinating, sonia and brimful. The things you learn on the internets....
So if these children demand inordinate amounts of food, do you treat them by restricting it or by appetite suppressants? Are there ways to treat this deficiency? I guess you are working on it, good researcher that you are.
My ability to do basis science research is very limited: I simply cannot do bench work. Respect the heck out of those of you who can....
on May 10, 2005 8:12 PM · Direct link
Hey MD:
You treat it with recombinant leptin therapy. Basically just give the kid some leptin. Its worked in the past.
on May 10, 2005 8:46 PM · Direct link
sonia: Thanks! Very cool. (The treatment and the distributed power of the interweb :) )
Comments closed.
