Arnold M, Linden A, Clarke R, et al. - From within a study of 25,020 adults recruited from China, researchers examined a healthy subset of 6,617 participants aged < 60 years to determine the association of lean body mass and other body-size measures to carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and carotid artery plaque. They also determined if lean body mass could account for the regional differences in cIMT (as a proxy for variation attributable to ancestry). Findings revealed that lean body mass strongly associated with cIMT, but not with plaque burden, in healthy adults and this is indicative of a normative link rather than reflecting atherosclerotic pathology. More weak associations of fat mass, height, and other body-size measures with cIMT were also observed. Possibly, common mechanisms underlie the links of lean body mass with cIMT and with nonatherosclerotic vascular traits.