Childhood obesity, as measured by BMI, is emerging as a major health problem in India, especially in children from urban areas. Although the health consequences of obesity are mostly seen during adulthood, it is likely that a tendency towards overweight or obesity could start earlier in childhood and track into adulthood. Further, it is likely that the BMI statistics may be concealing an even greater health problem since body fat has been shown to be high in normal BMI adult Indians as well. While the epidemiological measurement of body fat needs to be accurate, it may also be associated with other risk factors for chronic disease such as carotid media intimal thickening, even in childhood. For establishing rational early interventions, it is critical to identify the relationships between BMI, body fat and risk for effective cut-offs in children. The framework that will be investigated will relate primordial factors such as lifestyle behaviors and eating patterns to body fat. Further, body fat will be related to more immediate risk factors like blood pressure and carotid media intimal thickness.