U.S. News & World Report’s Best & Worst Diets of 2025

It’s that time of year again when U.S. News & World Report releases their annual best and worst diets list. The panel of experts evaluating the diets comprises 69 specialists in their fields, including medical doctors, registered dietitians, nutritional epidemiologists, chefs and weight loss researchers. 

This is the publication’s 15th year of determining which diets actually work and which ones should be reconsidered—or flat-out avoided. For 2025, U.S. News changed its methodology from ranking diets to rating them on a scale of 1 to 5—examining 38 diets in 21 different categories. 

This change, they say, is due to people looking for diets beyond just weight loss, as consumers are now embracing eating patterns for overall well-being and chronic disease prevention. The goal of this revised evaluation system is to provide consumers with a more personalized experience as they consider their health priorities and eating goals, says Gretel Schueller, managing editor of health at U.S. News in a press release.

When evaluating each diet, the expert panelists considered: 

• Nutritional completeness
• Health risks and benefits
• Long-term sustainability
• Evidence-based effectiveness

They also assessed each diet’s strengths and weaknesses and the specific goals it might be most effective at addressing. 

With this in mind. U.S. News added 12 new categories to their original nine for evaluation, all focused on specific health and lifestyle needs. The newly added categories included best diets for arthritis, brain health and cognition, gut health, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, inflammation, menopause, prediabetes and more. 

“A rating system makes more sense than ranking,” says Emily Lachtrupp, M.S., RD, a dietitian and EatingWell editor. “It allows people to learn about the health benefits of different diets or ways of eating and choose the one that works best for them, rather than choosing a diet because it’s ranked No. 1, even if it’s not the best for their lifestyle or routine.”

For 2025, U.S. News also added 13 newly evaluated diets that had not previously been included, such as the acid reflux diet, the autoimmune protocol (AIP) diet, the alkaline diet, the Body Reset diet, the BRAT diet, the Cleveland Clinic diet, the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) diet, a gluten-free diet, the gout diet, the low FODMAP diet, the low-residue diet and Whole30.

We’ve selected some of the categories below and included the top-scoring diets in each category—including which diet was crowned best overall.

The Best Overall Diet for 2025

For 2025, U.S. News rated the following four diets as the best possible eating patterns for the year:

• Mediterranean diet (4.8 rating) 
• DASH diet (4.6 rating) 
• Flexitarian diet (4.5 rating) 
• MIND diet (4.4 rating) 

For the eighth straight year, the Mediterranean diet took the top spot. And while it holds the No. 1 honor, the Mediterranean diet shares the category with other diets that came in close behind, including the DASH diet, flexitarian diet and the MIND diet. There’s a good reason for this, says Lachtrupp, as they all have common characteristics.

“They all prioritize nutrient-dense foods, like fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and fish, while limiting refined grains, added sugars and highly processed foods,” explains Lachtrupp. “Most importantly, they’re a flexible way of eating that’s not restrictive. They’re highly adaptable, so people can make changes depending on their preferences or make adjustments based on their medical needs.”

By now, you’re probably familiar with the Mediterranean diet since it has become somewhat of a household name, but the others might not be so familiar. To recap, the Mediterranean diet focuses on whole foods, including whole grains, fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, seafood, legumes and olive oil. This eating pattern also encourages savoring small amounts of dairy, including cheese and yogurt, as well as pickled or fermented condiments like olives, capers and kimchi. 

Specifically designed to help promote healthy blood pressure, the DASH diet—or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension—is similar to the Mediterranean diet, but more strictly limits sodium. And while sodium is an essential mineral, too much of it has been shown to raise blood pressure, partly due to its ability to retain water. 

The MIND diet—Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay—is a fusion of the Mediterranean and DASH diets. It focuses specifically on foods that have been shown to support brain health and reduce the risk of various types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The foods that are focused on in the MIND diet include whole grains, leafy greens, berries, nuts, beans, vegetables, fish, poultry and olive oil. 

If you are considering going the vegetarian route but aren’t sure you can stick to a strict vegetarian diet, then the flexitarian diet is worth trying. A typical vegetarian diet is plant-based but allows dairy and eggs and excludes all meat, fish and poultry. With an emphasis on plants, the flexitarian diet doesn’t totally exclude meat, fish and poultry—it simply cuts down on them. This makes it a vegetarian-ish diet. And this can be a great way to cut down on meat while still being able to enjoy it.   

The Best Diets by Category

The Best Diet for Brain Health and Cognition

MIND diet (4.7 rating)

Mediterranean diet (4.6 rating)

Flexitarian diet (3.9 rating)

DASH diet (3.8 rating)

The Best Diet for Diabetes 

Mediterranean diet (4.7 rating) 

Flexitarian diet (4.1 rating) 

DASH diet (3.8 rating) 

MIND diet (3.8 rating) 

The Best Diet for Gut Health 

Mediterranean diet (4.3 rating)

DASH diet (4.1 rating)

Flexitarian diet (4.1 rating)

MIND Diet (4.1 rating)

Vegan diet (4.1 rating)

The Best Diet for Weight Loss 

WeightWatchers (4.3 rating) 

Mediterranean diet (3.9 rating) 

Volumetrics (3.8 rating) 

The Best Fast Weight-Loss Diet 

Jenny Craig diet (3.7 rating) 

Keto diet (3.6 rating) 

SlimFast diet (3.6 rating) 

Nutrisystem diet (3.6 rating) 

WeightWatchers (3.6 rating) 

Best Heart-Healthy Diets 

DASH diet (4.9 rating) 

Mediterranean diet (4.8 rating) 

Flexitarian diet (4.3 rating) 

MIND diet (4.3 rating) 

Vegan diet (4.3 rating) 

The Worst Diets for 2025

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the diets with the lowest scores. The diets that scored less than 2 on the 1 to 5 scale included the AIP diet, the low-residue diet, the keto diet, the BRAT diet, the GAPS diet, OPTAVIA, the alkaline diet, the Atkins diet, the SlimFast diet and the Body Reset diet.

If you’re keeping in mind the criteria all the diets were judged by—nutritional completeness, health risks and benefits, long-term sustainability and evidence-based effectiveness—it’s no wonder these took the honors for the worst diets. Since some of these diets, like the purposefully bland BRAT diet, are very restrictive and only meant to be followed for a brief amount of time, it makes sense that they would score only a few points.

Others, like the GAPS diet, don’t have much evidence to back up their health claims. And diets like the SlimFast diet restrict you to consuming branded SlimFast products, like their shakes and snacks, which can mean that you miss out on the benefits of eating whole foods throughout the day.

Lachtrupp adds, “nutrition and health isn’t black and white, so it can be tricky to label eating patterns as the best or worst. That said, we know that the low-ranking diets are restrictive, lack science-backed health benefits and are difficult to follow long-term. While eating patterns like BRAT or low-residue are often used short-term when medically necessary, others fall more into the fad-diet category.”

The Bottom Line

It’s important to remember that no single diet is the best for everyone. We all have different needs, preferences and lifestyles, so choose one that works best for you. We have meal plans and recipes for all four of the top diets, so make sure to try your hand at tasty, approachable one-skillet Mediterranean dinners, DASH diet lunches and beginner-friendly recipes for the MIND diet and flexitarian diet.

And don’t forget that food is only part of the whole health equation. Physical activity, managing your stressors, getting plenty of quality sleep, spending time with loved ones and eating a healthy, varied diet all work together to contribute to your overall well-being and quality of life.