The subjects included 24 adults with a mean age of 61.3 years and a body mass index of 34.3. Subjects were provided a standardized breakfast on two randomly assigned occasions.
Thirty minutes prior to the meal, subjects were given either a 500-mL (approx. 17 oz) water pre-load or no pre-load.
The subjects who were given the water pre-load consumed 13% fewer calories compared with those subjects not given the water pre-load.
The calorie reduction was not associated with age, sex, body mass index or typical fluid intake, which means for older, obese adults, water may be a universal tactic for reducing calorie consumption at meals.
It should be noted that a previous study of non-obese adults saw a 60kcal reduction in calories consumed over breakfast for older adults (age 60 - 80 years), but no reduction in calories consumed by younger adults in that study (age 21 - 35 years)....
More research needs to be conducted to determine the long-term impact of a water pre-load in older, obese adults, as potentially it is possible that subjects may become adapted to the water pre-load over time.
However, as Alan Aragon points out in his Research Review (www.alanaragon.com/researchreview), from this research one can hypothesize that that water can potentially be as effective and even more effective than popular weight loss supplements Ephedrine and Conjugated Linoleic Acid:
