According to the 15th annual edition of the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Diets, there’s more than one science-backed diet that can work for you. A shopper reaches for groceries at a grocery store in Toronto on May 30, 2024.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
It’s the time of year when many of us resolve to eat healthier, be it to lose excess weight, manage a health condition or stay healthy as we age.
According to the 15th annual edition of the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Diets, there’s more than one science-backed diet that can work for you.
For this year’s report, 69 leading health experts, including dietitians, doctors and scientific researchers, rated 38 diets across 21 different categories.
Categories included best overall, easiest to follow and best diets for weight loss, heart health, diabetes, brain health, mental health, gut health, fatty liver, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis and menopause.
Here’s a look at 2025’s top-rated diets.
How 2025’s ‘best diets’ were determined
Each expert panellist evaluated the 38 diets and rated each on a scale of one to five.
For the “best diet overall” category, diets were judged on nutritional completeness, health risks and benefits, long-term sustainability and evidence-based effectiveness.
Panellists also considered each diet’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the specific health goals it might be most effective at addressing.
For the other 20 categories, which focused on general lifestyle goals or on managing, preventing or treating a specific health condition, panelists were asked to pick the diets they would most recommend for each goal or health condition.
The percentage of recommendations for each diet was then converted to a five-star rating.
Best ‘overall’ diets for 2025
For the eighth year in a row, the Mediterranean diet, which features a daily emphasis on whole plant foods, earned first place in this category with a rating of 4.8 (and top score in 11 other categories.)
This gold standard diet pattern also received top honours in the easiest to follow category, as well as best diets for healthy eating, inflammation, gut health, mental health, prediabetes, diabetes, high cholesterol, arthritis, preventing diverticulitis and fatty liver.
In second place for overall best diet was the DASH diet (4.6), an eating pattern proven to lower elevated blood pressure and tied to many other health benefits. (DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.) Hallmark foods in the diet include fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and beans, lentils, nuts and seeds.
The DASH diet also took home top marks for best heart-healthy diet and best diet for lowering blood pressure.
The flexitarian diet earned third place for best overall diet with a score of 4.5. Also called a semi-vegetarian diet, this diet includes plant-based meals most of the time while occasionally incorporating animal foods. The flexitarian eating pattern also received the highest score in the best plant-based diet category.
Coming in fourth was the MIND diet (4.4), a blend of the Mediterranean and DASH diets which also includes consumption advice for specific foods associated with brain health. The MIND diet also got top score, not surprisingly, as best diet for brain health and cognition.
‘Best diets’ in other categories
As was the case for 2024, WeightWatchers, the Mediterranean diet and Volumetrics were the top three rated diets for weight loss coming in first, second and third place, respectively.
When it comes to menopause, the Menopause Diet received a top score of 4.6, followed by the Mediterranean (4.3), flexitarian (3.9), MIND (3.9) and DASH (3.8) diets.
There’s no official “menopause diet.” According to U.S. News, a menopause-friendly diet is a “plant-forward, whole-foods focused diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seafood, eggs, lean meats and healthy fats.”
The Low-FODMAP diet, scoring 4.8, was the top-rated diet for IBS. FODMAP is an acronym for types of short chain carbohydrates that, once in the large intestine, can cause bloating, flatulence, abdominal distention and abdominal discomfort.
The diet is a diagnostic tool to help uncover which of these carbohydrates trigger digestive symptoms; it’s not a forever diet.
Top-rated diets across each of the 21 categories emphasize whole plant foods. They also don’t restrict entire food groups or ban certain foods, making it more likely that you can follow them long term (the exception is the low-FODMAP diet).
When to get individualized advice
No one diet or eating pattern is best for everyone, no matter how highly-rated it is. It’s important to factor in your lifestyle, cultural food preferences and health status when choosing a diet.
For example, depending on the subtype of IBS you have, a low-FODMAP diet may not help ease your symptoms.
If your goal is to treat or manage a specific health condition, it’s helpful to check in with your doctor or dietitian to personalize a diet approach that’s right for you.
Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based private practice dietitian, is director of food and nutrition at Medcan. Follow her on X @LeslieBeckRD