Sampling and Allocation
The sampling convenience method was employed. Eligible participants were
classified by stratified blocked randomization and based on diet therapy
(4 regimens). Thereafter, they were randomly assigned to either the
intervention group or the routine treatment regimen group. Randomization
was done separately within each group. The size of the blocks was 4; in
other words, 2 allocations to the intervention group and 2 allocations
to the routine treatment group were considered.