We compared our results with those obtained in another large GWAS of BMI, described in an accompanying manuscript by Thorleifsson et al.12. For the five of our six newly identified loci where a comparison was possible (those that had strongly correlated proxies on the Illumina 317K genotyping platform at TMEM18, KCTD15, SH2B1, MTCH2 and NEGR1), the data of Thorleifsson et al. also showed strong evidence of association (Table 1); for GNPDA2, no adequate proxy was available. None of the other top SNPs for which we attempted replication and which had adequate proxies showed evidence of associations in the study by Thorleifsson et al. (Supplementary Table 5; results provided by U. Thorsteinsdottir, G. Thorleifsson and K. Stefansson on behalf of Thorleifsson et al.). After the six validated loci (and SNPs in LD with them) were removed from our analysis, we no longer observed a clear excess of P values smaller than expected by chance (Fig. 1c). One might conclude from this that few detectable BMI loci remain to be found. However, we are encouraged in further pursuit because among the remaining
