In: Statistics and Probability
6. It is thought that dietary supplementation with linoleic acid
reduces blood pressure. To test this, 15 adults consumed 23 g/day
of sa✏ower oil, high in linoleic acid, for 4 weeks. Systolic blood
pressure (SBP) measurements were taken at baseline (before
ingestion of oil) and 1 month later, with the mean values over
several readings at each visit given in the following table:
Subject baseline SBP 1-month SBP Baseline1-month
SBP
1 101.97 101.96 0.01
2 115.65 115.73 -0.08
3 106.66 106.17 0.49
4 119.65 118.66 0.99
5 113.21 111.84 1.37
6 121.75 123.35 -1.60
7 95.87 94.00 1.87
8 124.75 122.80 1.95
9 144.08 141.48 2.60
10 129.72 125.99 3.73
11 95.30 91.03 4.27
12 95.14 90.78 4.36
13 139.42 133.57 5.86
14 90.52 83.34 6.68
15 117.74 108.90 8.84
mean 114.10 111.34 2.76
Variance 271.9 284.2 8.14
(a) What parametric test could be used to test for any e↵ect of
linoleic acid on SBP? Justify.
(b) Perform the test in (a), report a p-value, and provide a
conclusion in the context of the problem.