 We recruited the participants n 41 through an advertisement published in the Finnish Vegan Associations monthly newspaper and via an online discussion forum. The selection criteria were as follows: the participants had to 1 have followed a vegan diet for at least a year, 2 be between 18 and 50 years of age, 3 be apparently healthy, and 4 be nonusers of regular medications except oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy. Further, we matched the non-vegetarian participants by age and sex. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Kuopio University Hospital 692011 