Water Helps You Weigh Less

What do Beyoncé and Emile Zola have in common?

Not a lot, admittedly. But they’ve both gone on extreme diets that involve drinking massive amounts of water.

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Beyoncé, the international pop star, slimmed down by drinking nearly 12 glasses of water a day mixed with cayenne pepper and lemons. “I am a natural fat person, just dying to get out. I go through agonies to keep my stomach as flat as possible,” she has said in interviews.

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Emile Zola, the 19th-century French novelist and defender of human rights, can relate. Always short of stature, he weighed 212 pounds by the time he reached his late 40s. He grew tired of apologizing for his girth when passing people in narrow hallways, and put himself on a rigorous diet that included drinking water between meals. In three months, he dropped 30 pounds.

While extreme diets are rarely advisable, recent research supports a more moderate role for water in weight loss. A 12-week study at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom showed that individuals who drank two glasses of water 30 minutes before a meal lost on average 2.9 pounds more than those who did not.

“The participants didn’t alter their diet. All they did was add the two glasses of water before eating,” said Helen Parretti, lead researcher on the study and professor at University of Birmingham.

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Other research has supported the water-based weight loss method. A study from 2003 found that adding 17 ounces of water a day to a diet boosted metabolism, at least temporarily. A study published last May found lowered blood-sugar levels associated with intake of healthy beverages.

But the Birmingham study was one of the first to test the water hypothesis on participants.

Paulette Lambert, director of nutrition at the California Health and Longevity Institute, said that physiologically this made sense.

“Putting water in your gut gives you the sensation of fullness, even if it’s noncaloric,” she said.

When it’s time for the actual meal, the person is sated more quickly.

“On average, a person takes in between 150 and 180 calories less per meal. That translates to 10 pounds a year.”

Lambert cautions people to not overdo it on the water, however. Overhydration is a health hazard.

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Brenda Davy, professor of human nutrition at Virginia Tech, has conducted similar studies.

“Drinking two cups of regular tap water within 30 minutes of mealtime seemed to reduce participants’ level of hunger and increase their level of fullness when they began to eat the meal,” she said.

The next step for Parretti at the University of Birmingham is to reproduce her study on a larger scale. She is hoping to start a clinical trial involving 400 people doing water “preloading” for 12 months.

“A few weeks is good, but to really test the concept, you need a longer trial,” she said.

But Lambert said other beverages beside water could work in making one feel more sated before meals.

“A cup of clear broth could do the trick. Any beverage (could also work), as long as it’s noncaloric,” she said.