Conclusions This systematic review and meta‐ analysis provides evidence that vegetarian diets effectively lower blood concentrations of total cholesterol , low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol , high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol , and non – high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol .
Such diets could be a useful nonpharmaceutical means of managing dyslipidemia , especially hypercholesterolemia
Background Vegetarian diets exclude all animal flesh and are being widely adopted by an increasing number of people ; however , effects on blood lipid concentrations remain unclear .
This meta‐ analysis aim ed to quantitatively assess the overall effects of  vegetarian diets on blood lipids .
Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease.
CONTEXT The Lifestyle Heart Trial demonstrated that intensive lifestyle changes may lead to regression of coronary atherosclerosis after 1 year . OBJECTIVES To determine the feasibility of patients to sustain  intensive lifestyle changes  for a total of 5 years and the effects of these lifestyle changes ( without lipid-lowering drugs ) on coronary heart disease . DESIGN R and omized controlled trial conducted from 1986 to 1992 using a r and omized invitational design . PATIENTS Forty-eight patients with moderate to severe coronary heart disease were r and omized to an  intensive lifestyle change group  or to a  usual-care control group  , and 35 completed the 5-year follow-up quantitative coronary arteriography . SETTING Two tertiary care university medical centers . INTERVENTION Intensive lifestyle changes ( 10 % fat whole foods vegetarian diet , aerobic exercise , stress management training , smoking cessation , group psychosocial support ) for 5 years . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Adherence to intensive lifestyle changes , changes in coronary artery percent diameter stenosis , and cardiac events . RESULTS Experimental group patients ( 20 [ 71 % ] of 28 patients completed 5-year follow-up ) made and maintained comprehensive lifestyle changes for 5 years , whereas control group patients ( 15 [ 75 % ] of 20 patients completed 5-year follow-up ) made more moderate changes . In the experimental group , the average percent diameter stenosis at baseline decreased 1.75 absolute percentage points after 1 year ( a 4.5 % relative improvement ) and by 3.1 absolute percentage points after 5 years ( a 7.9 % relative improvement ) . In contrast , the average percent diameter stenosis in the control group increased by 2.3 percentage points after 1 year ( a 5.4 % relative worsening ) and by 11.8 percentage points after 5 years ( a 27.7 % relative worsening ) ( P=.001 between groups . Twenty-five cardiac events occurred in 28 experimental group patients vs 45 events in 20 control group patients during the 5-year follow-up ( risk ratio for any event for the control group , 2.47 [ 95 % confidence interval , 1.48 - 4.20 ] ) . CONCLUSIONS More regression of coronary atherosclerosis occurred after 5 years than after 1 year in the experimental group . In contrast , in the control group , coronary atherosclerosis continued to progress and more than twice as many cardiac events occurred
Conclusions This systematic review and meta‐ analysis provides evidence that vegetarian diets effectively lower blood concentrations of total cholesterol , low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol , high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol , and non – high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol .
Such diets could be a useful nonpharmaceutical means of managing dyslipidemia , especially hypercholesterolemia
Background Vegetarian diets exclude all animal flesh and are being widely adopted by an increasing number of people ; however , effects on blood lipid concentrations remain unclear .
This meta‐ analysis aim ed to quantitatively assess the overall effects of  vegetarian diets on blood lipids .