ALT increased over time and was consistently higher in the delayed group, contributing to a near-significant interaction ( p = 0.062) and a group effect trending toward significance ( p = 0.085), while AST followed a similar pattern without significance.
Although minor visual trends (e.g., elevated CH 4 in the immediate group at later visits) were noted, they did not reach statistical significance, suggesting colonic and small intestinal fermentation remained stable throughout the intervention. 3.6 Dietary intake Nineteen participants with valid 24-h recalls across all visits were included in the analysis.
Nonetheless, Horvath age showed a trend toward inverse association with sleep duration and positive association with anxiety, supporting prior studies linking poor sleep and psychological distress with accelerated epigenetic aging ( 59 – 62 ).