Not all diets equal in health benefits

Published: Thursday, October 04, 2007

There’s no shortage of diets to choose from to drop excess weight, but they differ widely in quality and health benefits, say researchers.

For overweight and obese adults, it’s important not only to shed pounds, but to do it by eating heart-healthy foods, said Dr. Yunsheng Ma of the University of Massachusetts medical school in Worcester.

After analyzing eight popular diets, he and his team found that the Ornish plan, the Weight Watchers High-Carbohydrate diet and the New Glucose Revolution plan came out on top in terms of nutritional quality and potential effects on heart health.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association looks at not only how good popular diets are for weight loss but how they measure up in terms of health benefits.