Analysis of the genotype and allele distribution for the APOB 3611 MspI polymorphism for the major variables analyzed (Table 5) revealed a probable significant association (p = 0.058) with serum TG levels. The rare allele M− was observed to be higher in individuals with normal TG levels (n = 571) as indicated by the higher frequency (13.10%) of heterozygous samples carrying the rare M− allele as compared to the 8.4% of individuals with increased levels of TG level (n = 95) and whom were mostly homozygotes (n = 85, 89.5%) for the wild type M+ allele implicating the M− as a “protective allele”. Univariate analysis of the mean and standard deviation of the lipid levels revealed a possible significant association of heterozygous M+M− with TG levels and BMI (Additional file 3: Table C). The analysis showed that heterozygotes showed a trend (p = 0.07) for lower mean TG levels (0.88 ± 0.9) than homozygous for either allele. Logistic regression analysis (Table 4) also showed a significant (p = 0.038) 8.8 fold increased probability of having lower TG levels (