NEW DELHI: According to a new Pennsylvania State University study, people who fill their stomachs with soup at the start of a meal eat less overall, reducing total calorie intake by over 20 per cent.

According to the study's authors, who presented their work on May 1 at the Experimental Biology meeting in Washington DC, any form of soup - those with separate broth and vegetables, chunky, chunky-pureed and pureed - will do the trick, proving to be equally filling.

Dr Barbara Rolls, who holds the Guthrie Chair of Nutrition at the University, said: "Consuming a first-course of low-calorie soup, in a variety of forms, can help with managing weight. This strategy allows people to get an extra course at the meal, while eating fewer total calories."

According to Dr Rolls, who devised the concept of Volumetrics (eating a satisfying volume of food while controlling calories and meeting nutrient requirements) scientists had earlier believed that only chunky soup, with lots of vegetables or meat, may be the most filling type. They also felt that the thickness of the soup or the amount of chewing required affected its ability to make a person feel full.

"This study also proves that consuming lower-calorie soup helps reduce food intake. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different forms of soup might have different effects on food intake," she added.

Charu Dua, chief dietician of Max Superspeciality Hospital, said, "Soups, thick or puree-based, are both good for health and filling. Vegetables or chicken in soup adds to its fibre content, increasing its satiety value. Several soups like tomato (20-40 calories), clear chicken (40-60 calories) and Talumein (50 calories) have very low calories and yet fill the stomach."

Dua added: "However, attention must be given that corn flour and milk is not added to the soup which immediately takes the calories to 100-150. Cream of chicken or spinach soup have nearly 200 calories."

Researchers gave low-calorie soup made of chicken broth, broccoli, potato, cauliflower, carrots and butter to 60 normal-weight men and women once a week for five weeks. Diners were found to eat 20 per cent less when they had both soup and lunch.