Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bomb. In today's episode
Speaker 1: is another classic from our archives. During this pandemic, we've
Speaker 1: all been focused more on health and wellness, and for
Speaker 1: many of us that's included taking a look at our
Speaker 1: relationship with alcohol. As with anything we consume, portion size matters,
Speaker 1: So it was really interesting to revisit this episode, which
Speaker 1: deals with the finding that wine glasses have doubled in
Speaker 1: size over the past twenty years or so. Hi brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren vogel Bomb. Here. Those of us who imbibe have
Speaker 1: all said it, I'll just have one glass of wine,
Speaker 1: but even if you stick to that, you might want
Speaker 1: to consider how your supposed single serving actually measures up.
Speaker 1: That's because, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge,
Speaker 1: wine glasses of modern day Brits are now seven times
Speaker 1: the size of their imbibing predecessors three years ago, and
Speaker 1: those glass sizes have increased the most in the last
Speaker 1: two decades, accompanying the rise in vino consumption. Until the
Speaker 1: second half of the twentieth century, beer and spirits dominated
Speaker 1: the British booz scene, but the drinking of wine nearly
Speaker 1: quadrupled between nineteen and two thousand four, likely due to
Speaker 1: its affordability, availability, accessibility, and all those successful marketing tactics.
Speaker 1: The study authors suggest that when it comes to how
Speaker 1: much we're drinking, our glass size probably does matter. For
Speaker 1: the study, the researchers examined wine glass capacity over time
Speaker 1: to illuminate weather changes in size may have contributed to
Speaker 1: that steep rise in wine drinking over the past few decades.
Speaker 1: By scouring online info and talking with antiques, glassware experts
Speaker 1: and museum curators, the researchers were able to obtain the
Speaker 1: measurements of four hundred and eleven glasses from seventeen hundred
Speaker 1: to the modern day. What they found might be a
Speaker 1: bit disheartening to anyone who leans heavily on that just
Speaker 1: one glass line. Wine glass capacity skyrocketed from a mere
Speaker 1: sixty six millileaters or two in the seventeen hundreds to
Speaker 1: four hundred and seventeen millileaters that's fourteen ounces in the
Speaker 1: two thousands, with the average size of a wine glass
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen falling around a four
Speaker 1: hundred and forty nine millileaters or fifteen ounces for reference,
Speaker 1: The size of a standard drink does vary from culture
Speaker 1: to culture around the world, but is commonly around ten
Speaker 1: grams of pure alcohol per beverage. For wine having an
Speaker 1: average of about twelve percent alcohol by volume, that accounts
Speaker 1: for just slightly over four ounces or a hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty five million leads. Study authors Zorana Zupan said in
Speaker 1: the press release, for the most part, this increase was gradual,
Speaker 1: but since the nineteen nineties the size has increased rapidly.
Speaker 1: Whether this led to the rise in wine consumption in England,
Speaker 1: we can't say for certain, but a wine glass three
Speaker 1: hundred years ago would have only held about half of
Speaker 1: today's small measure. There are lots of reasons those glasses
Speaker 1: may have gotten roomier, more affordable glass prices, innovations in technology,
Speaker 1: a healthier economy, and an increased societal appreciation for wine.
Speaker 1: But it could be the people behind the bar who
Speaker 1: have demanded bigger glassware to accommodate the increasingly normalized Megapore.
Speaker 1: Despite regulatory requirement in England to make customers aware that
Speaker 1: the more modest a hundred and twenty five million eater
Speaker 1: glasses are available, most establishments opt to serve two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty million leads at a time, or about one
Speaker 1: third of a wine bottle. And if your response to
Speaker 1: all this is that you have no problem moderating your
Speaker 1: intake in the face of such generous glassware, know that
Speaker 1: researchers have also found that the strength of wine has
Speaker 1: increased over the years in the UK at least. But
Speaker 1: regardless of where you reside, perhaps you'll want to pay
Speaker 1: a little more attention to how much wine you're actually doubting,
Speaker 1: because apparently just one glass could potentially still be enough
Speaker 1: to cause trouble. Today's episode is based on the article
Speaker 1: wine glasses have doubled in size since the nineteen nineties
Speaker 1: on houstaff works dot com, written by Michelle Konstantinovsky. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang. Four
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Speaker 1: favorite shows.