2.1. Design
Spice
A randomized, two-period, within subjects crossover design was used to examine and compare the consumption, liking, flavor intensity and subjective appetite ratings of two different lunch meal treatments in two separate participant groups fed different protein rich meals: 1. A meat-derived protein meal (M) and 2. A plant-derived (vegetarian) protein meal (V). The two test conditions for each protein meal type were (1) salt and pepper only preparation (No Spice, “NS”) as one meal and (2) herb and spice preparation with salt and pepper as the other meal (Spice, “S”). Within each protein meal type (M or V), the two test meals were matched as closely as possible for macronutrients and calories. A one-week washout period separated the two test meal treatments.Sample size: There were limited data from intervention studies in the literature on which to base a power calculation. Previous studies of older adult populations have used treatment sample sizes of 18–50 individuals [