HealthDay News — According to the US News & World Report, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary plan is the best choice of diet overall — for the seventh year in a row — followed by the Mediterranean diet, which went up from fourth place last year.
To come up with its list, US News & World Report ranked 38 diet plans in 9 categories.
The rankings were done by an expert panel of nutritionists, dietary consultants and doctors specializing in diabetes, heart health and weight loss.
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Each panelist considered the 38 diets across a number of areas, including the likelihood of sticking to the diet, the odds of losing weight in the short- and long-term and effectiveness against cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
The MIND diet, which incorporates elements of the DASH and Mediterranean diets and claims to protect against Alzheimer’s disease, was ranked third in effectiveness.
There was a 4-way tie for fourth place between the Flexitarian diet, a “casual vegetarian” diet that allows some poultry and fish; the Mayo Clinic Diet; the TLC diet; and Weight Watchers.
“DASH is not a fad diet, but a healthy eating plan that supports long-term lifestyle changes,” the US National Institutes of Health said in a statement. “To receive top ratings, a diet has to be relatively easy to follow, nutritious, safe, effective for weight loss and protective against diabetes and heart disease.”
Reference
US News & World Report Reveals Best Diets Rankings for 2017 [press release]. Washington, DC: US News & World Report; January 4, 2016.
