Short glasses more likely to lead to overdrinking: study

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="95%" height="1"> <tr> <center> <td valign="top" width="33%" height="33"> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="5">Short glasses more likely to lead to overdrinking: study</font></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" face="Arial">March 30</font><font face="Arial"><font size="1">, 2005<br> Courtesy <br> and World Science staff<br> </font><br> </font><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>People pour more alcohol into short, wide glasses than into tall, narrow ones that hold the same amount of liquid, a study has found.<br> <br> The research, published in this week’s issue of the British Medical Journal, found that even professional bartenders pour more into short, wide “tumblers” than into “highball” glasses, suggesting that experience of pouring alcohol has little effect. <br> <br> The researchers suggested the effect might be related to the fact that people wrongly see tall glasses as holding more liquid, without taking into account the width.<br> <br> “People focus their pouring attention on the height of the liquid they are pouring and insufficiently compensate for its width,” said Koert van Ittersum of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga.<br> <br> The study, involving 198 college students and 86 bartenders from a large U.S. city, found that people pour between 20 percent and 30 percent more into short, wide glasses.<br> <br> After several practice pours, half the students were given tall, slender 355 ml glasses and half were given short, wide 355 ml glasses. They were then asked to pour a standard “shot” of alcohol for four mixed drinks: vodka tonic, rum and Coke, whiskey on the rocks, and gin and tonic. <br> <br> Each bartender was also asked to pour the same four drinks, either with no instructions or after being told to take their time. <br> <br> Both students and bartenders poured more into short, wide glasses than into tall, slender glasses, the researchers found. Among students, practice reduced the tendency to overpour into tall glasses, but not into short, wide glasses. Most students also believed that the tall glasses held more. <br> <br> Despite an average of six years of experience, bartenders poured 20.5% more into short, wide glasses than tall, slender ones. Paying careful attention reduced but did not eliminate the effect. <br> <br> These findings suggest that alcohol consumption studies should include questions about the shape of the glass, say the authors. <br> <br> To avoid overpouring, they suggest using tall, narrow glasses or ones on which the alcohol level is marked. And to realise that when alcoholic drinks are served in a short, wide glass, two drinks are actually equal to two and a half.</b></font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="2">* * *</font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Send us a <a href="mailto:editor@world-science.net">comment</a> on this story, or <a href="mailto:?Body=http://www.world-science.net/othernews/051226_glassfrm.htm">send it to a friend</a></font></p> <p></b></p> </center></td> </tr> </table> </body>