Bottle of water before meal could help in weight loss

Did you know that you could lose weight just by drinking a glass of water? That’s right, a study by the University of Birmingham has found that obese adults who drank 500 ml of water half-an-hour before the major meals of the day were able to shed some pounds.

Obesity has been cited as a major health issue in the United States where two out of every three citizens are considered to be overweight or obese. The UK has higher levels of obesity and overweight people than anywhere in Western Europe except for Iceland and Malta. In UK 67% of men and 57% women are considered to be overweight or obese. [Read more 7 foods that will help you lose weight]

Published in the journal Obesity, the study revealed that obese adults who ‘pre-loaded’ with 500ml of plain tap water before meal lost an average of 4.3 kg (9.5lbs) over a 12-weeks period.

The group consisted of 84 obese adults who were enlisted from general practices. They were divided into two groups and monitored for the 12-week study period.

41 of those recruited were asked to consume 500 ml of tap water 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch and dinner - referred to as "preloading" - every day for 12 weeks. The remaining 43 belonged to the control group who were advised to imagine that they had a full stomach before eating.

All participants were obese adults. They were given consultation on weight management, where they received guidance on how to modify their lifestyle and enhance their food intake and physical activity levels. [Read more Antidepressants and Alzheimer’s drugs can also help stroke patients]

Among the adults, 41 were instructed to preload with water, while the remaining 43 were asked to imagine that their stomach was full before eating.

The participants who preloaded with water, according to instructions, lost on average 1.3 kg more weight than the participants in the control group.

Those who pre-loaded before all three primary meals of the lost 4.3k g over the 12-weeks study period, whereas those who only preloaded before one meal, or didn’t preload at all, lost an average of 0.8 kg.

“The beauty of these findings is in the simplicity. Just drinking a pint of water, three times a day, before your main meals may help reduce your weight,” said Dr. Helen Paretti, a lecturer at the University of Birmingham. [Read more Scientists report significant breakthrough in anti-aging]

She added that when water drinking is combined with guidance on how to boost your amount of physical exercise and follow a healthy diet, this appears to aid participants in losing some weight at a healthy rate. [জেনে নিন গাজরের অসংখ্য না জানা গুণাবলী]

The study team hopes that the results will encourage further research into the benefits of pre-loading with water before main meals. To confirm the findings, the researchers are asking for support for a trial study they plan to do with a greater number of individuals and over an extended period of time.

Dr. Paretti said that for an obese individual shedding some extra pounds in one year can be significant. This study sends a simple message that can potentially make a real contribution to the health of the general public, he concluded.