Effect of Pre-meal Water Consumption on Energy Intake and Satiety in Non-obese Young Adults

Abstract

I determined whether water consumption reduces energy intake and affects satiety in non-obese young adults. The final subjects consisted of 15 individuals (8 women and 7 men) with average ages of 26.4 and 23.5 years for women and men, respectively. When subjects drank water before eating a test meal, they ate a lower amount of the test meal compared to eating test meals under waterless and postload water conditions (preload water: 123.3 g vs. waterless: 161.7 g or postload water: 163.3 g, p < 0.05). Water consumption after eating a test meal did not affect energy intake. When the subjects drank water before eating a test meal, despite consuming a lower amount, the subjects did not feel significantly less satiety than eating meals under waterless or postload water conditions. The finding that pre-meal water consumption led to a significant reduction in meal energy intake in young adults suggests that pre-meal water consumption may be an effective weight control strategy, although the mechanism of action is unknown.

Keywords: Energy intake; Obesity; Satiation; Water.

Figure 1. Consumption volume on test meals served with and without water. Each box plot is composed of 5 horizontal lines that display the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles, respectively. All values above the 90th and below the 10th percentiles are plotted separately.

The different marks indicate significant differences by a repeated measures analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons.

Figure 2. (A) Hunger and (B) thirst ratings on test meals served with and without water. Values are means ± standard error of the mean for 15 subjects. Data were analyzed with a repeated measure analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons.