Drinking water with a meal: a simple method of coping with feelings of hunger, satiety and desire to eat

Abstract

This study examined whether drinking of water with breakfast affects the feelings of satiety and hunger, and how long after the meal this effect is maintained. Eight healthy, normal-weight women had three breakfasts with two extra glasses (4 dl) of water and three similar breakfasts without water. The breakfasts were served on three successive mornings during a 2 week period. The subjects filled in forms with visual analogue scales on feelings of hunger, satiety and desire to eat. The forms were filled just before the breakfast, in the middle of the breakfast before and after drinking of water, after finishing the meal, and thereafter every 30 min until 11.15 a.m. The results show that drinking two glasses of water affects subjective feelings of hunger and satiety during the meal, but this effect is not maintained after the meal. It is suggested that during a meal subjective feelings of hunger and satiety change independently of the food energy consumed. This study allows, however, no conclusions on the possible influence of drinking water on actual food intake during and after a meal.