(photo by Rick Tango)

When mom said, “Eat your soup” she was giving even more important advice than she might have imagined. According to researchers at Pennsylvania State University, eating a bowl of low-calorie soup before a meal could be a key step in solving America’s obesity crisis.

The scientists found that people who start a meal with soup eat less overall, so the addition of the extra course could help people lose weight rather than add extra pounds. The thickness of the soup didn’t seem to matter, but the four types of soup tested were all vegetable soups. (Adding a high-calorie, creamy soup to your meal could lead to weight gain.) A first course of a low-calorie soup before a lunch entrée reduced the calorie intake for the meal by 20% among the study’s participants.

An article in Britain’s The Independent quotes Julie Flood, who led the study, as saying,

Consuming a first course of low-calorie soup in a variety of forms can help with managing weight. Using this strategy allows people to get an extra course at the meal, while eating fewer total calories. Make sure to choose wisely by picking low-calorie, broth-based soups that are about 100 to 150 calories per serving. Be careful of higher calorie, cream-based soups that could increase the total calories consumed.

If you’d like to read the article in The Independent go to: Why eating soup could be the key to losing weight