Health
Mediterranean Diet Is The Best Diet For 2021, Say Experts
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- For the fourth consecutive year, the Mediterranean diet has again won the No.1 spot for best overall diet for 2021.
- The annual rankings by the U.S. News & World Reports also announced on Monday that following the Mediterranean diet, both the DASH and Flexitarian diets tied for 2nd place in the best overall diet category.
- According to science, the simple plant-based cooking in Mediterranean diets can lower risks for diabetes, heart disease and also promotes gut health.
The Mediterranean diet has been named the best overall diet for 2021 for the fourth consecutive year of the U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking, reports revealed on Monday.
Proven by studies to have established a link with lower health risks, the popular diet also grabbed the top spot for easiest diets to follow, the best diet for healthy eating, best plant-based diet, best diet for diabetics and best diet for heart health.
Following this, both the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet and the Flexitarian diet tied for the No. 2 spot for Best Overall Diet. The DASH diet is known for its managing hypertension while the Flexitarian diet which is a modified vegetarian diet, focuses on eating animal products in moderation.
The diets were judged by a panel of experts in heart disease, diabetes, nutrition, diet, food psychology and obesity who assessed research about the diets based on medical journals, government reports and other resources.
The Mediterranean diet involves eating heart-friendly foods that are normally eaten in the Mediterranean. People following the diet encourages people to eat more plants and foods low on ‘bad cholesterol’ like legumes, nuts, wheat, fruits and veggies, and the occasional glass of red wine.
Several studies across the world backed the diet to be beneficial for weight loss, gut health, diabetes and more. According to a 2020 large study published in the British Medical Journal Gut, the diet was found to have a positive effect on older adults in just a year by decreasing the “bad” ones and increasing the “good.”
Meanwhile, one of the panelists, Dr. David Katz, stressed in a statement that even though COVID-19 has dominated health concerns in the past year, it’s equally essential to know that following a healthy diet influences everything about our health over a lifetime. “It acutely affects the function of our immune system and exerts an outsized influence on risk factors related to COVID,” he said.
Source: USA Today
