This study investigated the correlation between the plasma phospholipid (PL) saturated fatty acid (SFA) concentration (as a surrogate marker of SFA intake) and plasma lipid and lipoprotein lipid concentrations in 139 healthy Australian men aged 20–55 years old with widely varying intakes of saturated fat (vegans, n = 18; ovolacto vegetarians, n = 43; moderate meat eaters, n = 60; high meat eaters, n = 18). Both the ovolacto vegetarian and vegan groups demonstrated significant decreases in plasma total cholesterol (TC), low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triacylglycerol concentrations compared with both the high-meat-eater and moderate-meat-eater groups. Total SFA and individual SFA [palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0) and arachidic acid (20:0)] in the plasma PL were significantly lower in both the ovolacto vegetarian and vegan groups than in both the high- and moderate-meat-eater groups, while myristic acid (14:0) was significantly lower in the vegans than in the high-meat-eaters. Bivariate analysis of the results showed that the plasma PL stearic acid concentration was strongly positively correlated with plasma TC ( P < 0.0001), LDL-C ( P < 0.0001) and triacylglycerol ( P < 0.0001), with r 2 values of 0.655, 0.518 and 0.43 respectively. In multiple linear regression, after controlling for potential confounding factors (such as exercise, dietary group, age, body mass index, plasma PL myristic acid, palmitic acid and arachidic acid, and dietary total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate and fibre intake), the plasma PL stearic acid concentration was still strongly positively correlated with plasma TC ( P < 0.0001) and LDL-C ( P = 0.006) concentrations. Based on the present data, it would seem appropriate for the population to reduce their dietary total SFA intake rather than to replace other SFA with stearic acid.