You know that drinking water is vital to your wellness – especially in the summer – but getting plenty of H2O can also help you to lose more weight. This is according to a new review of several prior studies, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which found a correlation between drinking more water and greater weight loss.
Brenda Davy, a professor at Virginia Tech who led some of the work included in the review, explained that in one study in which dieters were asked to drink water before a meal, ‘the water enhanced the weight loss.’ However, the researchers have commented that there is not sufficient evidence, as of yet, to categorically state that drinking more water will help you to shed the pounds. Still, as there’s no denying it’s important for your wellbeing, there isn’t any harm in trying to drink a few more glasses a day!
According to review leader Rebecca Muckelbauer, a researcher at the Berlin School of Public Health, Charité University Medical Centre Berlin in Germany, people have often asked her whether they should drink water to lose weight, and she didn’t know the answer. Hence, she and her colleagues examined every study on on weight and water consumption. Of the 11 studies that fit their criteria, three showed a link between increased water intake among dieters and greater weight loss.
While it’s not clear how water might help people shed pounds, Davy surmised that water could squelch feelings of hunger, which ‘may have helped them reduce their calorie intake.’ Muckelbauer, agreeing that increased fullness is the most likely explanation, put forward another possible explanation: water-induced thermogenesis. She explained the idea is that ‘drinking water itself increases energy expenditure of your body. It has an energy consuming effect. This is not very well studied.’
Regardless of why water may lead to greater weight loss in your diet, Davy noted that you may as well up your intake anyway. ‘We don’t have conclusive evidence that increasing water intake reduces weight, but there are certainly other benefits to increasing our intake,’ she said. ‘There’s not a lot of risk for recommending (increased water intake) for individuals.’