Weight loss experts have often advised people looking to shed a few pounds to replace their sugary sodas with water—or at least a diet soda—but hard evidence hasn’t existed to back up their claims .Now new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that simply changing your drinking habits may be enough to see a difference in weight loss.
According to Fox News, researchers randomly assigned more than 300 overweight adults into one of three groups. The first group replaced sugary drinks with water, the second drank diet sodas and the third was given weight loss advice, and then left to choose their own beverages.
At the end of six months, all three groups had lost an average of four or five pounds. However, the two groups that stopped drinking sugary drinks were more likely to lose at least five percent of their starting weight—20 percent of these two groups lost weigh, while only 11 percent of the comparison group did.
That kind of weight loss is considered “clinically meaningful,” Fox said. Participants experienced a drop in blood pressure and saw other health benefits from their actions.
And according to study leader Deborah Tate, the best part of the group’s findings is that they’re applicable to nearly everyone looking to drop a few pounds and improve their health.
“This is a simple thing you can do consistently each day,” Tate told Fox, adding dieters often find an entire lifestyle change too daunting. “It’s a good first step.”
On average, study participants lost about two percent of their body weight, Fox said.
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Weight Loss is Easier When Switching Sugary Drinks for Water
