Drinking water before meals helps dieting, says study Drinking water before meals can help people to lose weight, says a US study. Water contains no calories and drinking it makes us feel full. Scientists from Virginia found that slimmers can lose an average of 5 lb extra if they drink two glasses of water three times a day before meals. The researchers presented their findings at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.
They tested the theory on 48 older adults, split into two groups, over 12 weeks. All adults who took part in the study were aged 55 to 75. The first group followed a low-calorie diet but did not drink any extra water before meals. The second group followed the low-calorie diet but also drank two glasses of water before each meal. Over the course of 12 weeks, those drinking water lost about 15.5 lbs while the others lost about 11lbs.