[jp4m2]

This week end I came across this article by Prevention mag. ..I was a bit surprised by it.


(August 2004)--From cabbage soup to South Beach, popular diets agree on one thing: Water helps weight loss. To put this long-standing claim to the test, researchers in Germany measured the resting metabolism of 14 men and women before and after they drank just over 16 ounces of water. Within 10 minutes, metabolism began to rise. After 40 minutes, the volunteers' average calorie-burning rate was 30 percent higher, and it stayed elevated for more than an hour.

Researchers don't understand why, but they calculate that drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day--the generally recommended amount--can burn off almost 35,000 calories a year, or about 10 pounds.

How much water you should add to your diet depends on your current consumption, says researcher Jens Jordan, MD. Consuming a total of 8 to 12 cups daily is safe, he says, and cool water works best because part of the increased calorie burn occurs as the body warms the liquid to body temperature.