BACKGROUND: Rye is a whole-grain cereal with the potential of contributing to a healthy diet, but research on rye in relation to chronic diseases is scarce compared to wheat and oats. In this study, a total of 17 hypercholesterolaemic pigs were fed high-fat high-cholesterol rye (n = 9) or wheat-based buns (n = 8) with similar dietary fibre (DF) content for 9-10 weeks to study the effect on cardiovascular risk factors.