This Year's Top Diet Crazes

These eating plans are everywhere, and people swear they’re lifechanging. But what’s the science behind them, and should you go all in?

- Marisa Cohen

DASH

It stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

WHAT IT IS The salt-restricted diet emphasises fruits, veg and wholegrains, and includes low-fat or fat-free dairy plus sweets in moderation.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BODY DASH is heavy on foods with minerals linked to blood-pressure regulation, such as potassium, calcium and magnesium, while cutting salt. Lowering sodium optimises blood flow throughout your body, says Good Housekeeping’s US nutrition director, Jaclyn London, and the antioxidants you munch protect vascular cells from damage, which is linked to decreased risk of chronic disease.

PROS DASH is simple to follow because it doesn’t require radical food choices, says Dr David Katz, founding director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in the US and author of The Truth About Food (independently published). The plan is easily modifiable for weight loss. (One study found an average of 1,3kg lost over eight to 24 weeks.)

CONS None, unless you hate to track and count. ‘This diet has specific nutrition targets and servings, which can be a turn-off for some people,’ says London.

A MONTH-LONG ELIMINATION DIET.

WHAT IT IS For 30 days, you excise added sugars, grains, dairy, alcohol, baked goods and legumes from your diet; then you add them back one group at a time. The diet claims to reset your health, and it’s suggested that it may even heal digestive ailments, allergies and chronic pain.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BODY Elimination diets – used by doctors to diagnose food intolerances – isolate what may be causing discomfort or allergy-like symptoms, as you pay attention to how you feel when you add back a food.