Two cups of water can help you fight the bulge

WASHINGTON - There’s an elixir that needs no prescription, has no side-effects and almost comes for free. Just two cups of water taken before meals can help you win the battle of the bulge, a new clinical trial has confirmed.

Researchers at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) presented these results.

“We are presenting results of the first randomised controlled intervention trial demonstrating that increased water consumption is an effective weight loss strategy,” said Brenda Davy, senior study author, Virginia Tech Institute, US.

“We found that over a course of 12 weeks, dieters who drank water before meals three times a day, lost about five pounds more than dieters who did not increase their water intake,” she said.

“People should drink more water and less sugary, high-calorie drinks. It’s a simple way to facilitate weight management,” Davy added, according to a Virginia Tech statement.

Davy pointed out that experiment and everyday experience has long suggested that water can help promote weight loss.

But surprisingly, there has been little scientific information on the topic. Previous studies hinted that drinking water before meals reduces intake of calories.

The study included 48 adults aged 55-75 years, divided into two groups. One group drank two cups of water prior to their meals and the other did not.

All of the subjects ate a low-calorie diet during the study. Over 12 weeks, water drinkers lost about 15.5 pounds while the non-water drinkers lost about 11 pounds.

Davy said water may be effective simply because it fills up the stomach with a substance that has zero calories. People feel fuller as a result and eat less calorie-containing food during the meal.

“Increased water consumption may also help people lose weight if they drink it in place of sweetened calorie-containing beverages,” Davy said.