[benmaraschino]

While it’s often an ostensibly appealing point of criticism, it’s important to note that sample size is just one aspect of study design—the investigators used a crossover design, which substantially increases statistical power. In the Methods, they state that 10 subjects are sufficient to achieve 80% power, which (criticisms of NHST aside) is a generally accepted standard, i.e., to obtain NIH funding for a study, you must demonstrate in your grant application that your design achieves that 80% power benchmark.