Drinking water could help you lose weight more than diet drinks
Plain water is quite healthy.
Compared to other beverages, water contains zero sugar and zero calories. It can help control body weight better than diet drinks that contain artificial sweeteners.
In a recent study, researchers find that replacing low calorie ‘diet’ drinks with water can help with weight loss in obese women with type 2 diabetes.
In the study, 81 overweight and obese women with type 2 diabetes were enrolled. They all tried to lose weight to manage their diabetes.
They drank plain water or diet drinks for 24 weeks and aimed to lose 7-10% of their body weight.
The researchers find that women drinking water after their main meal at lunch time lost on average 1.16kg more than the women who drank diet drinks after their meal.
Why is that?
The team explains that artificial sweeteners in diet drinks could increase desire for sweetened and more energy dense foods.
For obese people who try to lose weight, they can lose more weight if they drink water instead of diet drinks.
In line with this, another study shows that drinking water before meal could help lose weight.
The study tested overweight/obese older men and women for 12 weeks.
During the time, they were on a hypocaloric diet alone or a hypocaloric diet plus increased water drinking.
The result showed that those who drank more water before their meals lost an additional 2 kg compared to the diet only group.
The researchers suggest that all people attempting to lose weight drink more water. Specifically, one should drink approximately 2 cups of water, about half an hour prior to most meals.
A third study that examined the dietary habits of more than 18,300 U.S. adults shows similar findings.
Researchers find that most people who drink more plain water — tap water or from a cooler, drinking fountain or bottle — by 1% reduced their total daily calorie intake.
In addition, their intake of saturated fat, sugar, sodium and cholesterol are all decreased.
The researchers suggest that drinking more plain water can help control body weight and improve diet quality.
This should be used as a useful public health strategy to reduce people’s energy intake and prevent overweight as well as obesity.
Although drinking water is a helpful way to control body weight, researchers find that many overweight and obese people don’t drink enough water.
In one study, researchers looked at a nationally representative sample of 9,528 adults. They found that about a third of the adults, who ages 18 to 64, were not hydrated enough.
The results suggest that overweight and obese people have higher water needs, but they don’t drink enough water and eat foods low in water content, such as processed food.
One solution for this is eating healthy foods high in water content, such as fruits and vegetables. This can help improve hydration status.
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