%0 Journal Article
%T Genetics of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in African Americans
%A Shana McCormack
%A Struan F. A. Grant
%J Journal of Obesity
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/396416
%X Obesity and type 2 diabetes are highly prevalent and lead to significant morbidity and mortality. In the United States, the impact of these conditions may be worse on historically underserved minorities, particularly African Americans. Genetic ancestry and differences in physiology are unlikely to be the sole or primary determinants of these disparities. In addition, research in this area has the ethically problematic possibility of conflating race with biology. Despite these important considerations and the challenges of conducting this work, population-based approaches for investigating the etiology of obesity and T2D may yield useful information about the pathophysiology of disease, and have implications that extend to all affected individuals. The purpose of this paper is to describe what is understood about the genetic variation that underlies obesity and T2D in African Americans and other individuals of more recent African descent and to highlight several examples that illustrate how ensuring adequate minority representation in genetic research improves its quality. For a variety of reasons a number of unique insights have been possible as a result of these efforts. 1. Introduction In this paper, we will use the previously formulated definition of race by the Endocrinology Society¡¯s 2012 consensus statement on health disparities in endocrine disorders as a ¡°complex multidimensional construct reflecting the confluence of biological factors and geographical origins, culture, economic, political, and legal factors, as well as racism¡± [1]. As described in more detail below, in genetic research, individuals are often grouped on the basis of markers of ancestry and admixture; these delineations may help to address the important problem of population stratification in association studies. Results are frequently reported with respect to commonly used racial designations, a practice that is intended to make findings understandable and generalizable, but that may fail to appropriately emphasize the distinction between race and biology. A full discussion of the methodological and ethical issues involved in using racial categories in genetic research is beyond the scope of this paper; the reader is referred to a number of excellent papers on this topic [2]. A multidisciplinary working group previously convened to address this issue emphasized that each individual has characteristics that could form the basis for his or her membership in any number of populations [3]. This group recommended that, in research publications, methodology should be clear and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobe/2013/396416/