The role of country of birth, and genetic and self-identified ancestry, in obesity susceptibility among African and Hispanic Americans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

African Americans (AAs) and Hispanic/Latinos (HLs) have higher risk of obesity than European Americans, possibly due to differences in environment and lifestyle, but also reflecting differences in genetic background.

Objective

To gain insight into factors contributing to BMI (in kg/m2) and obesity risk (BMI ≥ 30) among ancestry groups, we investigate the role of self-reported ancestry, proportion of genetic African ancestry, and country of birth in 6368 self-identified AA and 7569 HL participants of the New York-based BioMe Biobank.

Methods

AAs and HLs are admixed populations that trace their genetic ancestry to the Americas, Africa, and Europe. The proportion of African ancestry (PAA), quantified using ADMIXTURE, was higher among self-reported AA (median:

SUBMITTER: Vishnu A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6599741 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature