The objective of the study was to determine the genotypic distribution and allelic frequency of the rs17817449 polymorphism of the FTO gene in young Chileans and their influence on anthropometric variables. 96 young subjects (18-25 years old), 43 men and 53 women were evaluated using genotyping of the rs17817449 polymorphism of the FTO gene in TT, TG and GG by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in addition to a Kinenatropometric evaluation to determine the variables associated with body composition. The variables were analyzed statistically according to their parametric distribution and the level of statistical significance was p<0.05. The genotypic distribution of the FTO polymorphism rs17817449 in young Chileans was: TT: 50 %; TG: 42.7 %; GG 7.3 % and the allelic distribution was: T: 0.7105 and G: 0.2895. No statistically significant differences were found in the anthropometric variables when analyzing the participants according to model of dominance of the G allele. The genotypic distribution and the allelic frequency of the rs17817449 polymorphism of the gene were determined FTO in Chilean population, data unknown until now. According to our results, there are no anthropometric differences between people with different genotypes of the FTO polymorphism rs17817449, nor according to the dominance model of the G.

KEY WORDS: FTO; Anthropometric variables; Body mass index; Waist circumference.