In this study we examined the associations of nine recently discovered obesity loci with anthropometric and DEXA-derived measures of adipose mass, adipose distribution and type 2 diabetes risk in adults from northern Sweden. The previously reported genetic associations for these variants with obesity replicated for six loci. To assess the overall burden conveyed by the variants, we composed a weighted genetic risk score and show that this is strongly associated with obesity and the accumulation of total, abdominal and gynoid adipose tissue. Because obesity is an established risk factor for type 2 diabetes, it is important to determine whether the increased genetic predisposition to obesity translates to increased type 2 diabetes risk, which we were able to confirm for several variants. All associated variants clearly conveyed their effects via obesity.
