Those who want to watch their weight during the coming holiday season and curb those extra pounds from appearing should consider adding more of a certain food to their diet: soup.

A study led by James Hollis, assistant professor of food science and human nutrition, shows that soup consumption might be linked to eating less frequently. The study found that this is because soup helps people feel fuller for a longer period of time after eating.

Hollis stated that this is particularly interesting because soup consists of liquid calories. People who consume soft drinks on a regular basis, which is another form of liquid calories, do not get the feeling of fullness they would from eating soup.

“There’s just something interesting about soup,” Hollis said.

People who didn’t consume soup in the past 12 months were also shown to have an increased risk of being overweight or obese.

“We found that people who did consume soup as frequently had a higher HDL cholesterol level, which is the good kind of cholesterol, and the ones who didn’t consume it more frequently had a lower level,” Hollis said.

The study came from data collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006. The survey examined 4,158 adults between the ages of 19 and 64, and was as conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.

The study is the first one to report the associations between soup consumption and body weight in the United States.

Yong Zhu, epidemiologist and post-doctoral researcher at University of Iowa, helped Hollis with the research.

“I performed the statistical analysis and prepared the draft of the manuscript,” Zhu said.

Their study also showed that the number of people who frequently consume soup in the United States is fewer compared to other countries such as Japan. The prevalence of obesity is also lower in countries who consume soup on a more regular basis.

Hollis mentioned possibly doing more research related to this topic. An intervention trial could be done where soup consumption is increased with certain people.

As obesity is becoming more and more common in the United States, as well as Type 2 diabetes, Hollis said the results of this study can easily be used to help others consume soup more often and help manage weight.