Do you down your beer pretty fast, or are you more of a sipper? A new study says the shape of your glass may have an effect on your alcohol consumption, huffingtonpost.com reports.
According to researchers at the University of Bristol's Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group in England, drinkers who were served beer in straight-sided glasses finished their drink on average 1.2 minutes faster than drinkers who were served in curved glasses.
The study also suggested that volume markings on the glass slowed drinkers down, presumably by helping them keep track of how much they were drinking. The study was conducted with 160 participants with no history of alcohol problems, the report said.
"Our research suggests that small changes such as glass shape and volume markings can help individuals make more accurate judgments of the volume they are drinking and hopefully drinkers will use this information to drink at a slower pace," said Dr. Angela Attwood, the senior researcher on the study.
The researchers also asked pubs to track over four weekends how much beer was sold when they used different types of glasses. When the pubs used straight-sided glasses instead of curved ones they had lower sales, indicating less alcohol consumption, according to the researchers.
But not everyone was impressed with the findings. "A study showing that social drinkers with marked glasses drank the same amount of alcohol 1.2 minutes slower than drinkers with unmarked glasses is hardly meaningful," Dr. Anna Lembke, director of Stanford University's Addiction Medicine Program, told The Huffington Post.
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