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The award-winning Mediterranean Diet is a success once again, earning a 2025 “Best of won the “Best” award.
More of a lifestyle than a diet, the Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating fruits, vegetables, grains, olive oil, nuts and seeds, emphasizing the importance of eating with family and friends and eating daily. This is the highest honor since 2019. exercise. This diet also recommends lower intake of sweets and small amounts of dairy products and meat, especially red meat. However, fish, especially fatty fish such as sardines, are a staple food.
For the past several years, the report has ranked diets from No. 1 to around 40, with the top-ranked diets winning the gold medal so to speak, and the judges ranking diets at the bottom of the list. As for the law, it prohibited anything similar to that. Podium.
“There’s a long list of diets, and a lot of things under that, and frankly, most of the time, no one should really pay attention to,” says Gretel, health editor at U.S. News & World Report.・Mr. Schuler says: The person who supervises the annual diet ranking.
But this year’s Best Diets report takes a different approach, asking nutrition judges to give diets up to five stars, similar to consumer rating systems on many commercial platforms such as Amazon.
“It seems like almost every product or item has a five-star rating these days,” Schuler says. “We believe this new approach will give people more choice and a more personalized experience as they consider their health priorities and dietary goals.”
Using this new system, the Mediterranean diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and Flexitarian diets are the best overall diet, the healthiest diet, and the easiest to follow, respectively. Awarded 4+ stars as a diet.
While the DASH diet focuses on limiting salt intake with the goal of lowering blood pressure, the flexitarian diet, as its name suggests, takes a vegetarian approach and allows for occasional indulgences in meat and poultry. There is. These are all plant-based diets that suggest limiting refined and ultra-processed foods, red meat, and added sugars.
The 2025 report also includes new rankings of diets aimed at helping chronic conditions such as arthritis, diverticulitis, fatty liver disease and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as life stages such as menopause. .
Some medical associations recommend specific diets. The American Heart Association ranks the DASH diet as the best for heart health because it is 100% aligned with the AHA’s goals for heart-healthy diets. In the new Best Diets report by U.S. News & World Report, the DASH diet received top rankings (4.9 stars) for both heart health and blood pressure control.
However, other specialized medical groups do not recommend specific diets, preferring to focus on a more individualized approach. Take, for example, the Menopause Diet, which received 4.6 stars from the report’s judges.
Dr. Stephanie Faubion, Director of Mayo Magazine, says, “There is no such thing as a ‘menopausal diet.’ The only diet proven to help with hot flashes is a whole, plant-based diet that is low in oil and rich in soy. ”. Medical Director of the Clinic’s Women’s Health Center and Menopause Society in Jacksonville, Florida.
Although Fabion agreed with some of the recommendations of the menopause diet, such as not eating too close to bedtime, she did not agree with U.S. News & World Report’s criticism of Nutrisystem’s for-profit menopause diet. recognized an exception.
“Personally, as a menopausal physician and scientist, I do not recommend that my patients rely on paid diets for menopausal symptoms,” Fabion said in an email. “This doesn’t help people understand what to do in the long term, but relies on someone to put it in front of them. This is not sustainable.”
Many of the new dietary categories in the report revolved around digestive health and diets that claim to reduce inflammation such as arthritis and gout.
“There is no single diet that works for arthritis or gout,” Jill Tyler, editor of the Arthritis Foundation, told CNN in an email. “Plant-based diets that are low in sugar, unhealthy fats, salt, and processed foods, such as the Mediterranean and DASH diets, are the best options for managing these diseases.
“However, most patients with autoimmune inflammatory arthritis and many patients with gout require drugs to slow or stop the progression of the disease.”
Dr. Jesús Luevano Jr., assistant professor of gastroenterology at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, says people with digestive problems should not use the U.S. News & World Report rankings without first discussing it thoroughly with their doctor. He said that food should not be decided. .
“My concern is that people will look at these rankings and assume that just because they are done by nutrition experts, they are final, and as a result, they will They’re worried that they won’t be able to have a productive conversation with their doctor that will help them focus on the food for them,” said Luevano, who is also a spokesperson for the American College of Gastroenterology.
“You should do your homework, including keeping a food diary of what you’re eating, and work with your doctor to determine what’s the best approach for your particular problem,” he said. .
According to the report, the Mediterranean diet received a four-star rating or higher for fatty liver disease, inflammation, and overall gut health. For diverticulitis, a disease in which large bulging pouches in the large intestine and colon cause severe pain, judges gave the Mediterranean diet a 3.7 rating.
“For fatty liver and gallbladder disease, we recommend low-fat and Mediterranean diets because we know that diets that include lean meats and healthy fats are beneficial,” Luevano said. Ta.
For irritable bowel syndrome, the judges gave the low FODMAP diet 4.8 stars. Developed in Australia, this diet focuses on reducing foods and carbohydrates that ferment in the intestines and produce excess water, causing cramps, pain, and diarrhea.
The acronym FODMAP stands for fermentable foods. Oligosaccharide is a molecular chain of sugar. Disaccharides such as lactose. Monosaccharides such as fructose. Polyols are sugar alcohols such as sorbitol and erythritol.
“Because there are so many subtypes[of irritable bowel syndrome]this is probably the best example of how we really need to individualize diet for each patient,” Luevano says. . “If a patient attempts to avoid all items on the most comprehensive FODMAP list, they may eliminate common fruits such as apples and pears, as well as certain grains that may actually be helpful. there is.
“Each patient has unique food triggers that should be carefully discussed with your doctor and nutritionist,” he added. “I need to see if I can get rid of this, but is it really going to help your symptoms?”
