Drinking More Water Can Lead to Weight Loss

It’s always been known by health experts that drinking water provides many benefits. It’s a necessity, it keeps your body cool and is refreshing on a hot day. And when you drink lots of water, you aren’t drinking sugary drinks like soda and orange Koolaid 😉 These benefits alone should be enough to convince you to start drinking more water daily, but according to research performed by a team led by Brenda Davy of Virginia Tech, water has been proven to to accelerate weight loss.

The research consisted of 48 inactive Americans between the ages of 55 to 75 who were split into two groups. One group was told to drink half a litre of water before each of their three daily meals. The other participants were not told what to drink. All test subjects had been consuming between 1,800 and 2,200 calories per day and for the test, the woman were allowed only 1,200 calories while the men were allowed 1,500.

The test went on this way for three months and it was found that the group that were not given instructions had lost about 11 lbs., while the group who drank water lost an average of 15 1/2 lbs.

Two key things to note about the study:

  • Both groups lost weight because their calorie intakes were reduced, but the group who drank water lost more.
  • The group who had not been told to drink water, may have consumed soda or sweet drinks, which did count into their daily calorie intake, so it doesn’t reason that they consumed more calories per day because of it.

Davy had mentioned that water may have helped satiate their appetites causing them to consume less calories. This may be true. Without seeing the complete results of the study, it’s hard to know whether or not the water drinkers finished their meals. 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day is quite low so I would guess that many participants did finish their meals.

While the study is fairly small at only 48 subjects, it still suggests that drinking more water can lead to greater weight loss. Do you really need a study to tell you that you should be drinking more water anyway? Drink up!

Sources:
http://www.economist.com/node/16881791?story_id=16881791
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2010/08/082310-cals-davy.html

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