Monday, December 1, 2008

Dr. Stephen Roth in Sunday's New York Times

Dr. Stephen Roth, Director of the Department of Kinesiology's Functional Genomics Laboratory, appeared in Sunday's edition of The New York Times. The article focused on an interesting gene dubbed "ACTN3," which some believe can predict which sports a child would excel at. Here's the portion with Dr. Roth:

Dr. Stephen M. Roth, director of the functional genomics laboratory at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health who has studied ACTN3, said he thought the test would become popular. But he had reservations.

“The idea that it will be one or two genes that are contributing to the Michael Phelpses or the Usain Bolts of the world I think is shortsighted because it’s much more complex than that,” he said, adding that athletic performance has been found to be affected by at least 200 genes.

Dr. Roth called ACTN3 “one of the most exciting and eyebrow-raising genes out there in the sports-performance arena,” but he said that any test for the gene would be best used only on top athletes looking to tailor workouts to their body types.

“It seems to be important at very elite levels of competition,” Dr. Roth said. “But is it going to affect little Johnny when he participates in soccer, or Suzy’s ability to perform sixth grade track and field? There’s very little evidence to suggest that.”

For the whole article, go here.

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