Aug 26, 2015 02:02 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that drinking a glass of water before a meal could help obese adults lose weight.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that drinking a pint of water at half an hour before eating main meals may aid in weight reduction. They believe that the simple intervention could be hugely beneficial, and be easily promoted by healthcare professionals and through public health campaigns.

"Losing a few extra pounds over the course of a year can be significant to an individual, and this could be an easy way to help with that weight loss. It's a simple message that has the potential to make a real contribution to public health," Dr. Helen Parretti, NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers recruited obese adult participants from general practices and monitored them over a 12 week period. Each volunteer was given a weight management consultation, where they were advised on how to adapt their lifestyle and improve their diet and levels of physical activity. Forty-one of those recruited were asked to preload with water, and 43 were advised to imagine that they had a full stomach before eating.

Participants were encouraged to drink tap water. Sparkling water, sodas or sweetened drinks were not allowed as part of the study.

Researchers found that those in the group who were instructed to 'preload' with water lost, on average, almost 3 pounds more than those in the control group.

Researchers found that those who reported drinking water before all three main meals in the day reported a loss of 9.5 pounds over the 12 weeks, whereas those who only preloaded once, or not at all, only lost an average of 1.8 pounds.

 "The beauty of these findings is in the simplicity. Just drinking a pint of water, three times a day, before your main meals may help reduce your weight," Parretti said. "When combined with brief instructions on how to increase your amount of physical activity and on a healthy diet, this seems to help people to achieve some extra weight loss -- at a moderate and healthy rate. It's something that doesn't take much work to integrate into our busy everyday lives."

Researchers hope their study informs further research into the benefits of water preloading before meals.

The findings are detailed in the journal Obesity.

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