2.7. Statistical Analyses
Baseline participant demographics between dietary groups were statistically compared using an unpaired All microbiome data were checked for normality using the Shapiro–Wilks method. Changes in overall microbial alpha diversity measures were analysed using the Wilcoxon sign-rank or Mann–Whitney The association between changes in specific bacterial relative abundance and changes in clinical, anthropometric, and cognitive assessment outcomes was performed using a repeated measures correlation analysis package in R (rmcorr v.0.5.4). Similar correlations were performed to determine associations between bacterial relative abundance and adherence to the MedDiet based on the 10- and 18-point MDS.