The SH2B1 gene located at 16p11.2 has previously been shown to associate with increased serum leptin, total fat and waist circumference, and is a strong prior candidate for regulating body weight.44 Our study confirms rs7498665, a non-synonymous SNP (T484A), to be associated with BMI in African Americans, with higher effect size and same direction of association, as compared with the Europeans (β = 0.06 versus 0.036 s.d. unit of BMI, respectively).17
