FTO and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: In this sense, our findings highlight the importance of monitoring individuals with the risk allele of the rs9939609 polymorphism (FTO gene) since childhood, especially those with excess body adiposity, to reduce the deleterious effects caused by obesity on health since higher adiposity levels seem to track from early childhood to adolescence (especially for AA genotype carriers as demonstrated in the present study) and further to adulthood [32].