The Mediterranean diet continued to be the top choice for healthy eating for the seventh year in a row, according to annual rankings from US News & World Report.
The diet comprises whole, unprocessed foods, healthy fats, and plant-based dishes. Ingredients that are a staple of the Mediterranean diet include olive oil, whole grains, beans, seafood, leafy greens, and other vegetables.
The diet rankings from the article were conducted annually by a panel of experts including doctors, dietitians, and weight loss researchers, who evaluate popular diets based on factors such as nutritional completeness, long-term sustainability, and how easy it is to follow, Business Insider reported.
The analysis would be used to create rankings for 11 different categories as a best practice for profiles such as weight loss, diabetes, and family-friendly.
Advantages of the Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is based on traditional habits in parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain - and by extension, the Middle East and North Africa. The diet is rich in foods like olive oil, whole grains, nuts and seeds, legumes, and fatty fish.
The experts of the US News & World Report rankings gave it top scores for being heart-healthy, easy to follow, and rich in nutritious food options based on the evidence of a diet's potential health benefits (or side effects), such as scientific studies.
Extensive research on the Mediterranean diet suggested that it might improve heart health, support weight loss, and prevent cognitive decline.
According to researcher Dan Buettner, the Mediterranean diet also overlapped with eating habits for longevity due to the diet credited to the long, healthy lives of several areas in the Mediterranean that were known as Blue Zones.
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DASH Diet in Close Second
Coming in second place is the diet known as Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH diet, which aims to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The diet - which could be characterized as low in salt, saturated or trans fats, added sugars, fatty meats, and alcohol - is usually prescribed to people with hypertension or high blood pressure, but could also be followed as a general healthy diet.
The American Heart Association added that the diet prioritized vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, skinless fish and poultry, nuts and legumes, and non-tropical vegetable oils.
Earlier this year, the AHA rated the DASH diet higher than the Mediterranean diet.
Meanwhile, keto and raw food diets are ranked in the bottom five diets that should be avoided in 2024.
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