Water before a meal can aid weight loss

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20100824/1367/water-before-a-meal-can-aid-weight-loss.htm

Gulping down a couple of glasses of water before eating a meal could be a simple and sure way of losing weight, a new research conducted in the United States suggests.

The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston, says that drinking glasses of water before each meal could work better than diet pills among middle-aged and older adults.

The researchers divided two groups of overweight and obese men and women aged between 55 and 75 into two groups with one being asked to follow a low-fat diet and another taking the same diet, but with two cups of water before each meal.

After 12 weeks of the routine, it was found that those who drank two cups of water before each meal consumed less calories and lost more weight than those who did not drink the water.

The study suggested that those who drank two glasses of water before each meal lost about 15.5 pounds compared to 11 pounds in the case of those who did not drink water prior to meals. An earlier research had suggested that drinking water before meals also reduced a person's calorie intake by between 75 to 90 calories per meal.

The study, piloted by Brenda Davy, associate professor in the department of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech, left one key question unanswered. It wasn't sure if water drinkers tended to compensate by eating more through the rest of the day after 12 weeks of dieting.

Another important factor that came out from the research is that people who continued to follow the diet pattern and drank water before each meal managed to keep the extra pounds off but continued to lose additional weight on average.

Prior research has shown that drinking water before meals does not work well for those aged between 18 and 35. So, this research will only benefit the middle-aged in whom the stomach takes longer to empty. This is probably why they feel full and less hungry if they take a couple of glasses of water.