5:2 diet is usually recommended on the nutritional plan of patients and fitness members across the globe. The routine dominated the potential meal guides of every individual enrolled in wellness institutes and even clinical facilities. Among the famous benefits of the 5:2 diet is weight loss. It is why the meal plan is always recommended to healthcare patients and gym participants challenged with obesity and other weight-related conditions. 

What is 5:2 Diet?

5:2 Diet: Study Explains Why Is It Better Than Traditional Weight Loss Methods
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Basically, the 5:2 diet is a type of nutritional plan under the category of intermittent fasting. It utilizes specialized meals induced by time intervals, inspiring an individual to undergo a restricted dietary routine. 5:2 diet presents a systematic eating process that allows a person to select and consume any food they desire from a vast spectrum of their own choice within five days under controlled and sensible eating. However, the remaining two days of the week require a strict intake of foods that ranges to about 500 calories or less.

5:2 diet, considering that it is intermittent fasting, has been a topic for numerous research. Even though many people, instructors, and professionals are testifying how effective this diet is, a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, titled "Effects of intermittent and continuous calorie restriction on body weight and metabolism over 50 wk: a randomized controlled trial," states that intermittent fasting have no advantages over the commonly used conventional diet programs with regards to weight loss.

On the other hand, there is also scientific evidence that supports the benefits of time-restricted dietary routines. One example was published in the journal Cell Metabolism, titled "Ten-Hour Time-Restricted Eating Reduces Weight, Blood Pressure, and Atherogenic Lipids in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome." A separate study in Nature Metabolism, titled "Fasting drives the metabolic, molecular and geroprotective effects of a calorie-restricted diet in mice," also suggests that intervals on nutritional intake could also provide additional health improvements other than dieting aspects. 

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5:2 Diet Convenient, Simple, and More Effective

To find additional data on the 5:2 diet, the Queen Mary University of London conducted a new investigation. According to their findings, the 5:2 diet may have been effective above other nutritional plans. Based on a report by ScienceAlert , the study was made possible with the help of 300 adults that are diagnosed with obesity. Each of the participants was assigned one of the three diet plans selected for the research. A hundred participants were subjected to a conventional weight loss management program, the second batch of 100 to a 'self-help' 5:2 diet, and the last 100 to 5:2 diet with support sessions and advisors. All three separate groups were monitored in a year.

The three groups under the 'first randomized evaluation of the 5:2 diet ' showed moderate weight loss, scaling to five percent, from each diet assignment. The 'support group' showed that 28 percent of their participants had signs of weight loss, followed by 18 percent from the 'self-help' group and 15 percent from the 'conventional' group. Among the groups, those assigned to the 5:2 diet testified a much better experience during the weight loss program, saying that the approach was much simpler and more attractive than traditional diet programs. The latest study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, titled "A randomised controlled trial of the 5:2 diet."

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