Bigger wine glasses worry scientists

IF YOU are sipping wine from a goldfish bowl-sized goblet, there is good chance you are a heavy drinker.

Scientists are worried the availability of larger drinking vessels is making us drink more alcohol. And research has shown wine glasses are getting larger.

Scientists at Cambridge University in the UK found over a span of 300 years wine glasses have grown. In 1700, an average glass held 66ml. Today, glasses hold 449ml, on average.

South Africa is following this trend. A browse of local shop- ping sites showed supersize wine glasses are readily available.

Researcher Professor Charles Parry of the Medical Research Council said studies in South Africa have shown a correlation between the glass size and the amount of alcohol consumed.

Clear evidence of this, he said, was found in a study conducted at 16 drinking establishments in Tshwane in 2014. Researchers followed 713 drinking adults. What they found surprised them.

Half of the participants could be classified as heavy drinkers.

“These figures are way exceeding other countries because this was part of a multi- country study and South Africa’s figures were substantially higher than New Zealand, Australia, Mongolia, Vietnam and Thailand,” he said.

“For beer, wine and cider, drinking out of an above-average container size was substantially a risk factor for being a heavy drinker,” Parry said.

“We found that with beer if you drink out of an above-average size container, like a quart bottle, you are seven times more likely to be a heavy drinker.

“For wine the odds are just over the top; you are 38 more times likely to be a heavy drinker,” he said.