‘U.S. News & World Report’ Reveals Its Best Diets for 2025

It’s the start of a brand-new year — which for many of us involves fresh resolve to improve our eating habits — and U.S. News & World Report has just released its top diets for 2025.

The rankings are based on feedback from a panel of 69 doctors, registered dietitians, nutritional epidemiologists, chefs, and weight loss researchers. A new five-point rating system accounts for a wide variety of health and lifestyle considerations.

This year, U.S. News looked at 13 diets in addition to mainstays like the Mediterranean and DASH diets. These include options like the gluten-free diet, the Whole30 diet (a 30-day food elimination program), and the body reset diet (a 15-day, smoothie-based “detox”).

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‘U.S. News’ Names the Best Overall Diets

According to U.S. News & World Report, the best overall diets for 2025 are (in descending order):

This is the eighth straight year that the Mediterranean diet has come out on top. In a repeat of 2024, the No. 2 spot goes to the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, a Mediterranean-style diet with an additional focus on low sodium.

The flexitarian diet (a semi-vegetarian style of eating) moved up the list from fifth place in 2024 to third place this year, followed by the MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet, which slipped from No. 3 last year.

“It’s not surprising to me that the Mediterranean diet comes out on top year after year,” says Maya Vadiveloo, PhD, RD, an associate professor of nutrition and food sciences at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. “With the exception of some people with very specific medical conditions or allergies, almost anyone can follow a Mediterranean diet and adapt it to their personal and cultural food preferences.”

All the best-overall diets have a lot in common with the Mediterranean diet, Dr. Vadiveloo says. To varying degrees, they all emphasize plant-based meals, whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy unsaturated fats like olive oil. Similarly, they all encourage moderation when it comes to alcohol, red meat, and processed foods.

“The Mediterranean diet has a lot more options and may be the easiest out of all of these for some people to follow, but each one of these diets would be much better than the typical American diet,” says Melanie Jay, MD, a professor and the director of the obesity research program at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York City.

‘U.S. News’ Also Announces Top Options for Weight Loss

The Mediterranean diet also makes the list of best diets for weight loss, coming in at No. 2 behind Weight Watchers and ahead of Volumetrics.

But with the Mediterranean diet weight loss does not happen quickly. According to the U.S. News rankings, the top diets for fast weight loss are:

Compared with the Mediterranean diet, however, “Keto and some of these can be really hard to stay on long term,” says Dr. Jay. Obstacles like the cost of buying food and the logistics of counting calories or following specific rules for every meal can lead people to abandon these diets and go back to their old unhealthy eating habits, Jay says.

For sustained weight loss, a long-term commitment to a healthy eating pattern is key, says Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDCES, a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer, and certified diabetes care and education specialist.

“Whenever you are too restrictive and have very specific things to follow every day you are basically setting yourself up for failure,” Palinski-Wade says. “When we try new diets in January and it’s too strict we give up because we look at it as all-or-nothing and stop trying when it feels too hard to do.”

According to the new U.S. News ratings, the Mediterranean diet is the easiest diet to follow overall. The No. 2 simplest option is the flexitarian diet, and the DASH diet comes in third.

“This makes sense because these aren’t diets that require you to count calories or track macronutrients,” Palinski-Wade says. “Instead these diets focus more on food groups that are beneficial, with a lot of room to adapt to what works for you.”

Rankings Include Diets for Specific Health Conditions and Lifestyle Needs

This year U.S. News added diet ratings for a dozen new categories focused on health conditions and lifestyle needs.

For most of the health conditions U.S. News examined, the Mediterranean diet comes out at or near the top of the rankings. It’s the No. 1 diet for arthritis, diabetes, diverticulitis, fatty liver, gut health, high cholesterol, inflammation, mental health, and prediabetes.

It’s also the second-best option for brain health, high blood pressure, menopause, and weight loss.

But “every diet on these lists can work for someone,” says Palinski-Wade. “It may help some people decide to try and stick with a healthier way of eating if they believe it will help them with a specific problem, whether it’s arthritis or menopause or something else.”

Here are some of the rankings.

Best Diets for Arthritis

Mediterranean Diet
Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet
MIND Diet
DASH Diet

Best Diets for Brain Health and Cognition

MIND Diet
Mediterranean Diet
Flexitarian Diet
DASH Diet
Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Best Diets for Diabetes

Mediterranean Diet
Flexitarian Diet
DASH Diet
MIND Diet

Best Diets for Diverticulitis

Mediterranean Diet
Flexitarian Diet
MIND Diet
Vegan Diet

Best Diets for Gut Health

Mediterranean Diet
DASH Diet
Flexitarian Diet
MIND Diet
Vegan Diet

Best Diets for High Blood Pressure

DASH Diet
Mediterranean Diet

Best Diets for High Cholesterol

Mediterranean Diet
DASH Diet
Vegan Diet
Flexitarian Diet
TLC Diet

Best Diets for IBS

Best Diets for Inflammation

Mediterranean Diet
Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Flexitarian Diet
DASH Diet
MIND Diet

Best Diets for Menopause

Menopause Diet
Mediterranean Diet
Flexitarian Diet
MIND Diet
DASH Diet

Best Diets for Mental Health

Mediterranean Diet
MIND Diet
Flexitarian Diet
DASH Diet

Best Diets for Prediabetes

Mediterranean Diet
DASH Diet
Flexitarian Diet

Best Heart-Healthy Diets

DASH Diet
Mediterranean Diet
Flexitarian Diet
MIND Diet
Vegan Diet
TLC Diet
Cleveland Clinic Diet

Long-Term Change Should Be the Goal of Any Diet

The best way to overhaul your eating habits, for whatever reason, is to think about long-term changes rather than a quick fix.

“Don’t assume you need to get it right the first time,” Vadiveloo says. “Try to avoid the self-defeating mindset that you didn’t do it right one day so you can’t do it at all. Instead, have a broader vision so if it doesn’t go as planned for one meal or one day, the next time you’re hungry you can still be thoughtful and try instead of the chips to reach for a piece of fruit, because that is one step you can do.”

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