Weight Watchers Comes Out Top
Consumer Report (subscription only) has put 9 diets to the test. They compared nutritional content (by measuring a weeks worth of food against the US dietary guidelines), pounds lost, and dropout rates. Note that the South Beach Diet, eDiets, Jenny Craig, and Volumetrics were not ranked due to inadequate study data. To qualify, a diet must have been studied with results appearing in a peer-reviewed journal.
Weight Watchers came out on top. This was due to nutritional balance (no exclusion of food groups), and good long-term adherence.
Slim-Fast came in second place. Slim-Fast is a meal replacement plan where 1 or more meals are replaced by portion-controlled meals (shakes, bars, or smoothies). The report noted that adherence to Slim-Fast dropped sharply after about six months.
Zone Diet by Barry Sears was ranked number three
The Ornish Diet was 4th ranked - due to having the worst retention rate. This diet (by Dr. Dean Ornish) is a very-low-fat, high-fiber, vegetarian diet. The report concluded that the prospects for long-term weight loss were good.
Atkins was at number 5. Consumer Report were not happy with nutritional content or retention rate.
As stated above, four other diets (eDiets, Jenny Craig, South Beach Diet, and Volumetrics) were also studied - but were not ranked.
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