The core findings of this research could be summarised in: (j) HGF levels of the obese were higher than those of controls; (jj) BMR was foreseen by spleen length, which in turn was predicted by HGF; (jjj) BMR was predicted by IL-16, which predicted HGF; (jjjj) FM predicted early atherosclerosis; (jjjjj) IL-12p40 did not predict IMT, HGF and BMR. This evidence concerns the gene HGF and atherosclerosis.