Research Shows Eating Soup Can Be a Simple Strategy for Weight Management Success
Evidence suggests eating soup as part of a weight management plan may help curb hunger, enhance satisfaction and reduce calorie consumption.
05/01/09 When making New Year's resolutions to manage your weight, consider adding soup to your daily routine. More than two decades of research link the consumption of soup to satiety, decreased hunger and reduced calorie intake - all factors that can help with long-term weight-loss success. The reason: soup is considered a "low energy-dense," food , which means that it provides more food for fewer calories, so you ultimately feel fuller.
The link between eating soup and weight control is documented in a first-ever compendium of peer-reviewed science demonstrating that low energy-dense foods, like soup, can be an effective - and nourishing - part of any weight-management plan. "Soup as a Weight Management Strategy: A Comprehensive Research Review," examines more than two decades of research on energy density and was created by Campbell Soup Company as part of its commitment to promoting wellness.
According to a leading expert in energy density research, and one of the study authors included in the report, Adam Drewnowski, PhD, MA, professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington, more and more studies indicate that eating low energy-dense foods can be a highly-effective, weight management strategy. "We're finding that energy density of the total diet has a much larger impact on calorie intake than cutting out specific dietary components such as fat or carbohydrates," said Drewnowski. "People tend to eat about the same weight or volume of food each day, so by substituting high-water, low energy-dense foods they can keep the volume of food the same but decrease the overall calories.
Soup is high in water and low in energy density, which can help people feel satisfied on fewer calories." As a water-rich food, soup has been shown to offer a variety of benefits, such as helping to control hunger, reducing total calorie intake at a meal and providing eating satisfaction - all key factors to successful weight management. In fact, studies reveal that soup has a high satiety value and may help people feel full and eat less at a meal when served as a first course.
Eating soup was also found to result in a higher degree of satiety than eating foods with the same amount of calories, but higher energy density, such as cheese and crackers. Additional studies indicate that sipping a bowl of soup often takes longer compared to eating solid foods, which may add to its satiating effects. Breaking Down Barriers Dieting isn't easy. A recent survey of more than 1,000 women, conducted by Impulse Research on behalf of Campbell Soup Company, revealed some of women's biggest challenges when trying to manage their weight include finding diet foods that taste good (33 percent) as well as options that leave them feeling full or satisfied (36 percent).Cost, managing portions and time to prepare and plan also were cited as top obstacles when choosing foods for weight management.
Registered dietitian and award-winning diet and nutrition book author Carolyn O'Neil says any successful weight management plan needs to be one that is simple and that you can stick with for the long term. "People often think managing their weight is about elimination," said O'Neil. "It's actually the opposite. By adding low energy-dense foods like soup to your diet, you can actually eat more food than you might think. Plus, you can get a lot of variety in soup so you don't get bored with your eating plan." Soup can also be a good source of important nutrients that some people tend to fall short on, especially when reducing calories. For example, soups can be a good source of vitamin A, fiber and many varieties also provide a full serving of vegetables (one half cup).
In a study conducted in France, people who ate soup more frequently had better quality diets with higher intakes of fiber, vitamin A and C and lower intake of fat. Campbell's soups provide taste, variety and satisfaction, which are important to developing any type of long-term weight management plan. Campbell offers more than 80 great-tasting soups that are 100 calories or less per serving, as well as more than 100 broth-based soups that have a very low energy-density, including convenient microwavable soups such as 25% lower sodium Campbell's Soup at Hand Mini Noodles soup, Campbell's condensed Italian-Style Wedding, Campbell's condensed Minestrone and new Campbell's Select Harvest Light soups like Savory Chicken with Vegetables and Italian-Style Vegetables.
For more information about soup's role in weight management and to view an online copy of "Soup as a Weight Management Strategy: A Comprehensive Research Review," visit www.campbellsoup.com and click on the Nutrition and Wellness tab in the toolbar.
