PNPLA3 and Obesity: Another study reported that increasing visceral fat content was a factor in augmented association of the PNPLA3 I148M variant with hepatic fat content in 1019 European American men and 1238 European American women in the Family Heart Study.24 In addition, Emdin et al25 found that a polygenic risk score, including 12 genetic variants, had a synergistic association with alcohol intake and obesity and was associated with an increased risk of cirrhosis cases in the Partners HealthCare Biobank.