Dr’s Casebook: Studies Show Drinking Ice Water Can Help You Lose Weight

Dr. Keith Souter writes: Drinking a few cups of water before meals certainly seems to help people.

You’d think it’s just a placebo effect.

But research actually shows that there is a very real effect, and if you’re struggling with a weight loss diet, drinking more water, especially ice water, can make a difference.

Drinking water increases your metabolism. Photo: Getty Images

This was the subject of a review of 11 water intake and weight loss studies that included more than 4,000 subjects.

Three of the studies showed that increased water intake when dieting resulted in greater weight loss.

Another study compared women who increased their water intake while dieting with those who kept their water intake at one liter a day.

The women who increased their intake had significantly greater weight loss.

Why drinking water should make a difference is not clear.

In fact, there could be several reasons.

First, water can satisfy hunger, also because many people do not consume enough water anyway and mistake hunger for thirst.

By quenching thirst, they can also quench what they misinterpret as hunger.

Second, there could be a mechanical effect in that the increase in fluid fills the stomach and the person partially loses appetite due to the feeling of fullness.

Third, there is a theory called water-induced thermogenesis.

This suggests that drinking water actually has an energy-consuming effect.

This may sound hard to believe, but a scientific study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2003 showed that drinking half a liter of water increased your metabolic rate by 30 percent.

It doesn’t last long, but it seems like it boosts your metabolism.

Further research revealed that the water had to be cooled with ice in order to achieve the effect.

The body warms it up to body temperature and the metabolism boost is triggered.

Drinking warm water showed no increase in metabolic rate.

The implication, of course, is to drink ice water to get the effects.