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Consumer Reports Rates Diet Plans

Weight Watchers Wins, Atkins Trails -- but No Single Diet Best for All
By Daniel DeNoon
WebMD Medical News 		Reviewed By Michael  Smith, MD
on Monday, May 09, 2005

May 9, 2005 - Weight Watchers is the best overall diet plan, according to new Consumer Reports ratings.

The ratings are based on combined scores for nutritional value and weight loss effectiveness. The nonprofit consumer group has never before rated commercially available diet plans.

Consumer Reports Senior Editor Nancy Metcalf wrote the report for the June issue of Consumer Reports.

"For the first time we have some good information on how these diets work for real people, as opposed to just having the claims of people who created the diets," Metcalf tells WebMD. "And now we have new dietary guidelines,new dietary guidelines, so that gives us a nutritional standard to measure these diets against."

Nutritional ratings came from a commercial software program that gives detailed information about virtually any food. Metcalf and colleagues took a sample week-long menu from each of the diet plans and fed a description into the program. They then compared the nutritional content of each diet to the new U.S. dietary recommendations.

To rate the diets on effectiveness, Metcalf's team looked at clinical trial data published in medical journals. There wasn't enough effectiveness data for four of the nine diet plans, so only five of the plans got ratings.

Envelope, Please

The ratings, translated from Consumer Reports' "red blob/black blob" system where a full red blob is best and a full black blob is worst:

  • Weight Watchers got the highest rating. On the 1 to 5 rating scale -- where 1 is best and 5 is worst -- Weight Watchers scored a 2.
  • Slim-Fast came in second. It also scored a 2 on the rating scale.
  • The Zone diet came in third, with a rating of 2.
  • The Dean Ornish diet came in fourth, with a rating of 3.
  • The Atkins Ongoing Weight Loss plan and the Atkins Induction plan came in last, both with a rating of 4.

Excerpted from Consumer Reports, June 2005

  Diet Price* Overall score** Average daily calories Nutritional content
Rank         Percent of calories Fiber grams / 1,000 calories Fruits / veggies - daily servings
Fat Saturated fat Carbohydrate Protein
1 Weight Watchers $10 to $13 per week 2 1,450 24 7 56 20 20 11
2 Slim-Fast $2 to $3 per day for bars or drinks 2 1,540 22 6 57 21 21 12
3 Zone (men's menu)*** $25.00 2 1,660 27 7 42 30 21 17
4 Ornish $15.00 3 1,529 6 1 77 16 31 17
5 Atkins (Ongoing Weight Loss) $13.95 4 1,520 60 20 11 29 12 6
6 Atkins (Induction) $13.95 4 1,640 61 19 8 31 8 6
NOT RATED: INSUFFICIENT STUDY DATA (listed in alphabetical order)
  eDiets $12 to $32 per month   1,450 23 5 53 24 19 12
  Jenny Craig $6 to $7.65 per week, $11 to $15 (food)   1,520 18 7 62 20 16 6
  South Beach (Phase One) $24.95   1,530 51 14 15 34 9 12
  South Beach (Phase Two) $24.95   1,340 39 9 38 22 19 13
  Volumetrics $25.95   1,500 23 7 55 22 20 14

*Except where noted, price is for the book.
**On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the best.
***Women's menu similar but about 1,300 calories

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