• INCLUSION CRITERIA:

African American Women: Individuals will be considered to be African American if they self-identify as African American and were born in the United States. Further they must describe both parents as being African American and born in the United States.

Caucasian Women: Individuals will be considered to be Caucasian if they self-identify as Caucasian and were born in the United States. Further they must describe both parents as being Caucasian and born in the United States.

Healthy Volunteers: The potential enrollee must self identify as a normal volunteer and have this confirmed by having at the screening visit a normal complete blood count, glucose, BUN creatinine, liver and thyroid panel.

Age between 18 and 49 years: This age range is chosen because TG levels change at puberty and increase with age and postmenopausal status. However, we understand that vascular disease is not likely to be present in this age range. But our goal is not to detect vascular disease but to detect ethnic differences in the pathways that allow vascular disease to develop. Enrolling women between the ages of 18 and 49 years will minimize confounders and maximize our ability to detect differences in mechanism of action that are truly secondary to ethnicity rather than hormonal changes related to the life cycle.

Weight less than 136 kg (300 lbs): This weight restriction is necessitated by the limitations of the DXA scanner. The DXA platform cannot accommodate subjects who weigh more than 136 kg.

BMI between 20 and 45 kg/m(2): Women in both ethnic groups will be recruited across BMI nonobese and obese categories. Therefore we will enroll from each ethnic group 12 women with a BMI between 20 and 30 kg/m2 and 12 women with a BMI between 30 and 45 kg/m(2).

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Menopause: As the menopause can affect TG levels, menopausal women will be excluded. To ensure that menopausal women are excluded, FSH levels will be checked in women between the ages of 40 and 49 years. If the FSH level is elevated, the woman will be excluded.

Irregular menses: Women with irregular menses will be excluded. Irregular menses are a hallmark of the peri-menopause and polycystic ovarian disease (PCO). PCO adversely affects TG metabolism.

Refusal to agree to use barrier contraception: The DXA scan and CT scan should not be performed if the participant is pregnant. In addition, TG levels are directly affected by pregnancy. Even though we will perform pregnancy tests within 7 days of each visit, we also require that the subject agree to abstinence or barrier contraception throughout the study.

Medications which affect parameters under investigation: Examples include corticosteroids, oral contraceptives, hypoglycemic (oral or injection), hypolipidemic, antihypertensive and antipsychotic agents. Oral contraceptives, in particular, are exclusion criteria because the estrogen component of oral contraceptives increase TG levels and would therefore obscure the effect of the test meal on TG levels.

Medical Conditions which affect parameters under investigation: Examples include diabetes, thyroid disease, liver disease, pancreatitis, nephrotic syndrome.

Current Smokers: Smoking can affect TG levels, endothelial function and insulin resistance. Therefore current smokers will be excluded. Women who were past smokers but have not smoked for one year prior to enrollment will be allowed to participate.

Hispanics: The relationship between TG and insulin resistance in Hispanic White women is midway between African American and Caucasian women. Therefore in this initial study to be able to determine the maximum ethnic difference in the relationship between TG and insulin resistance, we will enroll in this protocol study women who self-identify as African American and Caucasian and not enroll women who self-identify as Hispanic.