By Lauren Streib
It’s been an interesting year for nutrition and public health. Outsized sodas were outlawed. New projections indicated that the American obesity rate will continue to climb, but urban childhood obesity rates declined for the first time in decades. As well, the results of a 25-year study proved that starvation doesn’t prolong longevity, despite a long-held belief that less food meant more years.
Of course, just like last year, obesity is an epidemic in the U.S. And so, The Daily Beast revisited its annual diets ranking for the third year. By analyzing clinical studies and published research on more than a dozen diet regimens, we attempt to sort through all the New Year’s noise regarding weight loss to figure out which has been proven to be the best.
As with last year, we ranked diets based on the most recent published clinical data on long-term and short-term weight loss (as evidenced by 6-month and 12-month weight loss). This year we also included a 5-point scale for promoting cardiovascular health and controlling diabetes based on available published research, which affected the rankings.