Intermittent energy restriction diets, such as the 5:2 diet fasting diet–during which five days of the week are normal eating days, while the other two restrict calories to 500-600 per day–clears fat from the blood quicker after eating meals than daily calorie restriction diets – reducing an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, a new study in the British Journal of Nutrition reports.
In the first study of its kind, researchers from the University of Surrey examined the impact of the 5:2 diet on the body’s ability to metabolize, as well as clear fat and glucose after a meal and they compared it to the effects of weight-loss achieved by a more conventional daily calorie restriction diet. Previous studies in this field have predominantly focused on blood risk markers taken in the fasted state, which only tend to be, in for the minority of the time, overnight.