Table 4.

Plasma concentrations of plant sterols, lathosterol, cholesterol, and plasma plant sterol-to-cholesterol ratios among adult vegetarians and non-vegetarians in North America.

	Non-vegetarian n = 371	Semi-vegetarian n = 35	Pesco-vegetarian n = 91	Lacto ovo-vegetarian n = 224	Vegan n = 82
β-Sitosterol (μg/mL)a	2.93	2.72	3.02	3.00	3.31
95% CI	2.81 – 3.07	2.37 – 3.13	2.77 3.30	2.83 3.17	3.01 3.63
Campesterol (μg/mL)a	3.77	3.37	3.70	3.57	3.78
95% CI	3.58 – 3.96	2.88 – 3.94	3.36 – 4.09	3.35 – 3.81	3.40 – 4.21
Lathosterol (μg/mL)a	1.90	1.81	1.95	1.97	2.10
95% CI	1.81 – 2.00	1.54 – 2.12	1.77 – 2.16)	1.84 – 2.10	1.89 – 2.34
Cholesterol (mg/dL)	194.8	183.9	189.9	189.9	190.5
95% CI	190.7 – 198.8	171.1 – 196.7	181.9 – 197.9	184.7 – 195.1	181.9 – 199.1
β-Sitosterol:cholesterol (μg/mg)	1.54	1.51	1.62	1.61	1.77*
95% CI	1.48 – 1.60	1.33 – 1.71	1.50 – 1.76	1.53 – 1.69	1.62 – 1.92
Campesterol:cholesterol (μg/mg)	1.98	1.87	1.99	1.91	2.02
95% CI	1.89 – 2.16	1.61 – 2.16	1.81 – 2.18	1.80 – 2.03	1.83 – 2.23
Lathosterol:cholesterol (μg/mg)	1.00	1.00	1.05	1.06	1.12
95% CI	0.95 – 1.04	0.87 – 1.15	0.96–1.15	1.00 – 1.12	1.02 – 1.24

All pairwise differences were determined using analysis of variance controlling for age, race, gender, BMI, and physical activity with post hoc Dunnett’s test to adjust for multiple comparisons.

^aTo convert μg/mL to mg/dL, multiply by 0.1.

^*Difference is statistically significant (p≤0.05) compared to non-vegetarian (reference).