Bakgrund: The aim of the study was to investigate whether a shift from a mixed diet to a lacto-vegetarian diet would lead to a decreased risk for coronary heart diseases indicated by surrogate markers.

Metod: Twenty volunteers participated in the study (4 men and 16 women, mean age 44 years, range 27-61). Clinical examinations were performed, blood samples were drawn and dietary survey, i.e. repeated 24-h recalls were carried out before (0 months) and 3, 6 and 12 months after the dietary change.

Resultat: The dietary shift lead to an increase in the intake of total carbohydrates and fiber and a decrease in fat, protein and sucrose. The coronary heart disease risk markers body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol and low-density lipoptrotein cholesterol decreased statistically significantly.

Sammanfattning: There was a decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and other disease risk markers even though the ratio polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids was unchanged indicating that a decreased energy intake is more important than a change in the distribution of fat, carbohydrates and protein. The main finding in this study is that there was a weight loss, sustained for one year, without any recommendation to decrease the energy intake. Thus, this may be the most important effect of choosing a vegetarian diet.