Bell JA, Wade KH, O’Keeffe LM, et al. - Relative to body fat, body muscle was less robustly related to markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) susceptibility and thus may represent a lower-priority intervention target.

• Higher body fat likely results in heart disease, but fat loss is difficult to maintain.

• Data on approximately 3,000 young people from a British birth cohort study were analyzed.

• A weak association of muscle strengthening, as indicated by grip strength gain, with lower atherogenic trait levels in young adulthood was found, at a smaller magnitude than unfavorable links of fat mass gain.

• Links of muscle mass gain with such traits seem to be smaller and limited to gains happening in adolescence.

• There was a positive association of SD-unit gain in limb lean mass index from 10 to 25 y with atherogenic traits including very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) triglycerides.

• This pattern was restricted to lean gain in legs, whereas an inverse association of lean gain in arms with traits including VLDL triglycerides, insulin, and glycoprotein acetyls was found, as well as its positive link with creatinine (a muscle product and positive control).

• Men exhibited more pronounced associations of lean, grip, and fat measures with traits.