Similarly, in a cross-sectional analysis of middle-aged and older women, Wang et al. showed an association between individual plasma carotenoids, although they did not look at total carotenoid status, smoking, obesity, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL), HDL-cholesterol, HbA1c, and CRP (23). This evidence concerns the gene CRP and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.