Drank too much wine? Just blame the glass

Have you ever known it’s not you but your glass that determines how much wine do you drink.

A new study suggests, the size and shape of your wine glass and how you hold it determines how much you end up drinking.

After witnessing how environmental cues like plate size and food labels impact eating behaviours,

Taking cue of the environmental factors like plate size and food labels influencing eating habits, researchers decided to take a look at how such factors impact drinking experiences.

In the study by Doug Walker, Laura Smarandescu, and Brian Wansink, drinkers unintentionally poured larger servings when their glasses were wider, when the pourers held them in their hands, and when the glassware matched the wine.

“If you want to pour and drink less wine, stick to the narrow wine glasses and only pour if your glass is on the table or counter and not in your hand – in either case you’ll pour about 9-12 per cent less,” Wansink said.

The researchers carried study on 73 participants who drank at least one glass of wine a week.

They were brought to several different stations and were asked to pour themselves a normal serving of wine. They used three different types of wine glasses to test the effect of size and shape: Large, Wide, or Standard. At each of these stations, the researchers manipulated environmental cues to measure their effects.

To see if participants subconsciously drank more when they anticipated a meal, some stations featured a large or small place setting.

To examine the effects of pouring position, students either poured their wine into a glass they were holding or into glass placed on a table.

To examine the visual effects of colour contrast, there was either low contrast between the wine and the glass (white wine in a clear glass) or high contrast (red wine in a clear glass).

Following were the findings:

As the researchers suspected, several environmental cues lead to over pouring. The researchers found that people are likely to over-pour if they choose a wide glass, hold the glass while serving, or select a wine that matches their glass.

When glasses were wider, participants poured 11.9 percent wine.

When there was low contrast between the glass and the wine (white wine in a clear glass), participants poured 9.2 percent more wine than when there was high contrast (red wine in a clear glass).

They poured 12.2 percent more wine when they were holding their glasses, compared to pouring into glasses placed on a table.