2.7. Statistical Analysis
The size of the study population was estimated taking total blood cholesterol level as the main variable. Considering a statistical power of 80%, a statistical significance level of 5% (one tail), a standard deviation of 6.5, aiming to estimate a difference of 2.5, the number of volunteers required is 25, rising to 31 in anticipation of dropouts for each group (Healthy and Hypercholesterolemic). Descriptive analysis of all the variables under study (mean and standard deviation), on baseline conditions and after the treatment were obtained on each group.Comparative inter-group analysis: A comparison of values of variables at the beginning of the intervention was performed between the healthy and hypercholesterolemic groups, to check for initial differences, by means of a Comparative intra-group analysis: To observe the changes produced in the variables over time, a paired For the statistical analysis, the level of significance used was 0.05, and the SPSS program (version 19.0; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA, IBM Company) was used.