For the seventh consecutive year, the Mediterranean diet has taken the top spot as the “world’s healthiest diet”. It’s not solely due to its overall health benefits, but also its specific advantages for heart health, diabetes management, bone and joint well-being, as well as its ease of adoption and family-friendly nature.

A panel of medical and nutrition experts assessed various diets and eating habits, evaluating factors such as nutritional completeness, health risks and benefits, long-term sustainability and evidence-based effectiveness. The Mediterranean diet emerged victorious, scoring an impressive 85.1% and beating the second-placed diet by a significant margin.

So, what exactly is the Mediterranean diet?

In essence, it’s a straightforward and inclusive approach to eating, rather than a restrictive “diet” in the classical sense. It’s based on the traditional dietary habits of Mediterranean countries like Italy, Greece, Spain, and Turkey, emphasizing plant-based foods and healthy fats.

This means indulging in a diverse array of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes (chickpeas, beans, and lentils), whole grains, cereals, and fish. Moderate consumption of meat, dairy products (such as natural or Greek yoghurt), and alcohol (particularly red wine) is also permitted, reports Surrey Live.

The authors of a new report have praised the Mediterranean diet, saying: “The Mediterranean diet is one of the easiest diets to follow for good reason. Rather than taking a highly restrictive approach that eliminates certain nutrients or food groups or being highly rigid about specific macronutrients, the Mediterranean diet provides general guidelines that are versatile enough to be adaptable to any cuisine or lifestyle making it a sustainable approach to eating.”

The ranking of diets was compiled by US News and World Report by this panel of experts. Coming second to the Mediterranean diet was the DASH diet, which was originally developed to battle high blood pressure and could reduce LDL cholesterol levels. And third was the MIND diet, which takes the DASH and Mediterranean diets and focuses especially on the foods that improve brain health. In a long list of 30 diets, WeightWatchers came sixth.

What are healthy fats and which foods are rich in them?

Healthy fats include monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat, known to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels. On the flip side, unhealthy fats such as saturated fat and trans fat can elevate ‘bad’ cholesterol in your blood, potentially leading to strokes, heart attacks, and dementia.

For monounsaturated fat, reach for peanut butter, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, pistachios, rapeseed oil, olive oil, olives, and avocados.

Polyunsaturated fats are abundant in oily fish like kippers, mackerel, and salmon, as well as in rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, and nuts including walnuts, pine nuts, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.

And which diets should you possibly avoid?

The raw food diet was ranked lowest by researchers. Despite its potential to help people eat more fruits and vegetables, it could lead to insufficient calorie or protein intake and “restricts some major heart-healthy food groups”.

The Dukan diet, known for its extremely restrictive low-carb, high-protein approach, was ranked near the bottom, with the report stating: “This extremely restrictive low-carb, high-protein plan claims major weight loss, but there’s little evidence it works.”

Similarly, the keto and Atkins diets didn’t fare much better in the rankings. Researchers noted that while some on the keto diet may “lose an impressive amount of weight very quickly” and find it effective for short-term goals, long-term adherence could lead to health issues such as nutritional deficiencies.

An account by one journalist who tried the keto diet revealed that they experienced significant weight loss, shedding pounds within just four weeks.

Regarding the Atkins diet, the researchers observed that it might result in some initial weight loss, but maintaining those results could prove difficult. They cautioned: “The restrictive plan is not nutritionally adequate, especially for people with kidney disease or history of kidney stones, athletes and people diagnosed with osteoporosis.”