Whole30, Paleo, And Dukan Are The Worst Diets, According To US News & World Report

You may have seen the Whole30 and paleo diets all over social media this past year, but according to the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking, these were two of the most inefficient diets of 2016. For the report, experts in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes, and heart disease ranked 38 of the most popular diets based on how easy they are to follow; their ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss; their nutritional completeness; their safety; and their potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease.

The No. 1 overall diet was DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), which focuses on lowering blood pressure by decreasing salt intake and increasing fiber consumption. The Mediterranean diet — whole grains, vegetables, and plenty of healthy fats like olive oil — came in second.

At the very bottom of the list was the viral Whole30 diet, known for its 30-day "challenge" to strictly eliminate all sugar, alcohol, and grains. The paleo diet — which has been one of the most popular nutrition lifestyles over the past several years — ranked 36 out of 38.

These results are similar to last year's. The Dukan Diet — a very high-protein, low-carb diet — ranked No. 37 on the list because it was hard to follow and not the most nutritionally sound advice you could follow. Still, Google ranked it in the top 10 diet searches of 2016.