Obesity is likely to be a multifactorial disease with an important genetic component. Animal models of genetic and experimentally induced obesity suggest that glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activity plays a role in the aetiology and maintenance of the obese state. Glucocorticoid activity appears to be essential for the development of hyperinsulinaemia and subsequent fat deposition. In humans, glucocorticoid excess is associated with central fat distribution. We have therefore investigated the restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the human GR gene locus (GRL) and have sought associations of specific alleles with anthropometric measurements and indices of insulin secretion and resistance in obesity. Fifty-six extremely obese, unrelated, nondiabetic premenopausal British Caucasian females and 43 age-matched, normal weight controls were studied. The obese subjects were characterized by fat distribution (waist to hip ratio), insulin secretion and insulin resistance (fasting insulin (FI)), an index of insulin resistance (HOMA), stimulated insulin secretion during an oral glucose tolerance test and insulin-mediated glucose disposal, steady-state plasma glucose). A Bc1I polymorphism (fragments of 4.5 and 2.3 kb) demonstrated significant association with indices of glucose metabolism in obesity; those subjects homozygous for the 4.5 kb fragment had elevated FI (Pc = 0.012) and HOMA (Pc = 0.012) values. The genotypic and allelic frequencies of the GRL Bc1I polymorphism were otherwise similar in obese and normal weight subjects. We postulate that the GRL Bc1I polymorphism may directly affect GR gene expression, or be in linkage disequilibrium with a possible mutation within one of three exons of the GR gene, and thereby modulate GR transcriptional activity on target genes involved in glucose and insulin homeostasis.