The Mediterranean Diet: A Timeless Winner
For the second year in a row, the Mediterranean diet has captured the top spot as the “best of the best” diet, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of the best and worst diets. This diet, which is more of a lifestyle than a strict diet, focuses on eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, and nuts and seeds while emphasizing the importance of sharing meals with family and friends and engaging in daily exercise. It also recommends limiting consumption of sweets and red meat, with fish, especially fatty fish like sardines, being a key component.
The Mediterranean diet has won the top spot since 2019, and this year, the report’s judges used a new method of rating diets, giving them up to five stars, much like the consumer rating systems on many commercial platforms. The diet, along with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and flexitarian diets, all received 4-plus stars as the best overall diets, the best healthy eating diets, and the easiest diets to follow.
The DASH diet emphasizes reducing salt intake to help lower blood pressure, while the flexitarian diet, as its name suggests, allows for occasional indulgence in meat or poultry in its vegetarian approach. All three diets suggest limiting refined, ultraprocessed foods, red meat, and added sugars.
The U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 report also includes new rankings for diets designed to help chronic conditions such as arthritis, diverticulitis, fatty liver disease, and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as stages of life such as menopause. Some medical associations, like the American Heart Association, recommend specific diets, while others, like the American Gastroenterological Association, prefer a more personalized approach.