Yoga linked to weight loss in overweight

Regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people and overweight people may drop a few pounds, U.S. researchers said.

Alan Kristal and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle said in an earlier study, the researchers learned middle-age people who practice yoga gained less weight over a 10-year period than those who did not — independent of physical activity and dietary patterns.

The follow-up study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found people who ate mindfully — those were aware of why they ate and stopped eating when full — weighed less than those who ate mindlessly — who ate when not hungry or in response to anxiety or depression.

The study also found a strong association between yoga practice and mindful eating but found no association between other types of physical activity, such as walking or running and mindful eating.