According to the current idea, if you pour wine into a smaller-than-usual glass, you will consume less wine unknowingly.
If you frequently complain about having consumed too many Sauvignon Blancs, you are certainly not alone.
However, scientists claim they have discovered a simple method that could prevent headaches the next day.
Those that followed the practice consumed approximately seven percent less red or white wine, although being permitted to consume as much as they normally would.
Researchers from Cambridge University have proposed for larger glasses to be more expensive in stores, while bars and restaurants should exclusively use small glasses.
The team recruited 260 households that consumed two or more bottles of wine every week.
Volunteers were invited to purchase their regular amount of wine in either 75cl or 37.5cl bottles throughout the course of two 14-day intervals.
They were also randomly assigned a smaller (290ml) or larger (350ml) glass to drink from.
After each two-week session, volunteers emailed images of their wine bottles to the researchers to demonstrate the amount of wine consumed.
The findings, published in the journal Addiction, indicate that when prompted to use a smaller glass, consumers drank less.
Households using the smaller glasses consumed 6.5% less liquid (253ml) every two weeks.
Similar effects were observed when drinking from a smaller bottle, but the results were not as definitive, according to the team.
According to Dr. Eleni Mantzari and her colleagues, consumers tend to pour less wine into smaller glasses.
Similar benefits have been shown with food, and psychologists recommend using a smaller plate while attempting to lose weight.
They claim it deceives individuals into thinking there is more food on their plate, causing them to consume less.
People tend to measure consumption by the number of bottles consumed rather than by volume, according to Cambridge researchers, so if they purchase a smaller bottle, they may drink less.
The researchers observed that the size of wine glasses had “dramatically expanded” during the past three decades.
Therefore, if additional research confirms the findings, laws could be implemented to regulate wine glass size, such as increasing the price of larger glasses.
And establishments serving alcoholic beverages could be required to use smaller glasses to “alter social norms” around acceptable glass sizes.
The researchers cautioned that they only measured the individuals’ wine intake, therefore it is unknown whether the participants adjusted for drinking less wine from small glasses by consuming more spirits or beer.
And the study was conducted between November 2020 and August 2021, when the United Kingdom was under lockdown for months.
Dr. Mantzari and her team stated that they do not know if the results would be the same during non-pandemic periods.
Currently, Britons are advised to consume no more than 14 units each week, which is roughly equivalent to six pints of beer or ten small glasses of wine.
On average, however, consumers in the United Kingdom consume 18 units per week.
