Want to lose weight? Drink water
Could something as simple as a glass of water be the key to the nation's obesity epidemic? Well, probably not. But a new study has found that drinking a couple of glasses of water before meals can help people consume fewer calories.
There's long been a lot of folklore about water helping people lose weight. And previous studies have found that people who drink water regularly consume fewer calories during meals. But there's been suprisingly little actual good research on the subject,
So Brenda Davy of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blackburg and colleagues decided to conduct what they say is the first well-designed study to actually show that wtaer consumption is a good weight-loss strategy. The researchers studied 48 adults ages 55 to 75. All of the subjects were asked to consume a low-calorie diet for 12 weeks, but half also drank two 8-ounce cups of water just before each meal.
After 12 weeks, those who drank the water lost about 15 1/2 pounds, compared to only 11 pounds for those who did not drink the water, Davy reported Tuesday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society being held in Boston.
The approach might work simply by filling people up with something that has zero calories, making them fill full and less likely to eat as much, Davy says. It could also prompt them to consume fewer sweetened drinks, which contain a lot of calories. A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar.
Although it is possible to drink too much water, which can lead to a rare but serious condition known as water intoxication, water is basically very safe -- certainly safer than being overweight.
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