United Press International – August 17, 2009
SEATTLE, Aug 14, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) — 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.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International