Challenge
You are a pediatric physician and have two obese patients, Bob and Todd, who are seven-year-old boys and are very overweight for their age. Bob is overweight because his body produces too much of a certain growth hormone, a rare but well characterized genetic abnormality. When he is an adult, he will weigh probably 400 or more pounds, regardless of how much he diets or exercises. Both of his parents are slim, as is his older sister.Todd is likely to also reach 400 pounds if he continues to gain weight through his adolescent years. Todd has inherited his body build, metabolism, and sedentary lifestyle from his parents, who are both largely overweight, but he has not been diagnosed with any abnormal growth disease. With a strict low-calorie diet and plenty of exercise, Todd could keep himself at a manageable weight.
Genetic engineers have produced an anti-growth hormone which should help both boys lose weight and raise their metabolism through their teenage years. Because the drug exhibits few minor side effects, both sets of parents want this hormone to be prescribed for their sons to help them become more socially accepted at school, more mobile, and have a decreased risk of weight-related problems later in life.
As a doctor, you realize the role that genes play in the condition of each child. Bob will be overweight because of a single genetic defect that alters the production of a growth hormone. Todd will be overweight due to many metabolic-related genes that he inherited from his parents. Despite this genetic difference, the result for both children will be the same.
Would you prescribe the new anti-growth hormone to Bob, Todd, or both?
Continue to #2 'Generate Ideas'
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