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Drinking water can help you shed up to 4lb over 12 weeks, a study has found.

16:44 05 May 2016

A new study published in the journal Obesity has supported previous claims of popular weight loss programmes that drinking water can help shed unwanted pounds. It found that people with increased water intake ate on average 40 fewer calories at mealtimes.

 

In the study, researchers split overweight or obese older men and women into two groups. Both groups were put on a hypocaloric diet, which means they were made to eat fewer calories than the energy they were expending. However, the second group was told to increase water intake.

 

Both groups lost a significant amount of weight, which ranged from 5-8kg, but those who consumed more water lost an additional 2kg compared to the diet only group.

 

Dr Howard Murad, associate clinic professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of The Water Secret, said: ‘Healthy hydration is about the water you hold in the body, not the water you drink that passes straight through,’

 

‘When we eat water-rich foods, we absorb water more slowly because it is trapped in the structure of these foods,’ says Dr Murad. 

 

‘That slow absorption means the water in food stays in our bodies longer, and brings a multitude of additional benefits.’