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Drinking Too Much? Blame Your Glass
sciencehabit writes "Before you down that pint, check the shape of your glass—you might be drinking more beer than you realize. According to a new study of British beer drinkers, an optical illusion caused by the shape of a curved glass can dramatically increase the speed at which we swill. The researchers recruited 160 Brits, and asked them to watch a nature documentary while they drank beer from straight or curved glasses. The group drinking a full glass of lager out of curved flute glasses drank significantly faster than the other group--possibly because the curved glasses impaired their ability to pace themselves while drinking."
I'm 27 and don't drink at all.
You are "The Most Boring Man in the World".
Drink through a straw.
Have gnu, will travel.
...that drinking out of my gf's pumps was my problem. Now I know for sure.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
...what the pub and bar industry has known for 200 years. Attaboy, researchers! Next research mission; Do those free peanuts and pretzels make you thirsty for more beer, too?
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Just one small study with 160 people cannot be trusted. I feel it my duty to help out with the research, I think that this merits a lot of experimental evidence to ascertain the veracity of this important question. I shall be off to the pub to do repeated tests using different glasses - this evening, straight after the new Dr Who has aired.
Oh I don't know. I am older yet and do not drink but I do remember the fun that I've had. And very little of it has resulted in throwing up, acting like an inebriated asshole or regretting the use of alcohol diminished reasoning faculties.
Does this make any real difference whatsoever? Surely people are still capable of counting the number of glasses they drink, or is drinking one pint too quickly "binge drinking" now?
This is a substitute for a clever sig that fits within the maximum number of characters.
Holding a fluted glass, you're more likely to drink faster off the top just to make it easier to hold w/o spilling. It's a less convenient form factor compared to a straight mug.
People try to avoid spillage as it invites accusations of tipsiness or worse.
The Mobius Mug and the Escher Pint are the worst causes of hangovers, but you don't see them at most bars because the profit margins suck.
My precious, precious ass. Nothing bad could ever happen to you. Nothing. Not a single thing. Shhhh, baby, shhhh.
Research suggests you are not tall and slightly curvy, then. Didn't you RTFH?
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DAS BOOT!
What makes you drunk is not if you drank your single beer in 5, 10 or 15 minutes.
What makes you drunk is ordering another one. And another one. And another one. And another one.
Counting glasses is the same no matter how the thing is shaped, no?
From the article (i know, what am I doing reading that...)
"They assigned each group to drink either about 177 milliliters or about 354 milliliters of lager or soft drink from straight or curved glasses."
No they didn't! It's a British report and beer sure as hell is not measured in ml!
Still, the actual measurements used (6 fl oz and 12 fl oz) still seem to be an odd choice to me. Have to wonder why they didn't use 10 fl oz (a half) and 20 fl oz (a pint) to more accurately represent the normal quantities of beer drinking.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043007
-1 troll is not supposed to be used simply because you don't agree
I do drink (I like a good whisky or wine, beer tends to be too fizzy for me - but a few are ok), but I don't see the point of drinking so much that you end up puking your guts out holding the toilet and a terrible hangovers the next day. Or even having blackout episodes.
I personally have never experienced all that bad stuff, and I don't intend to. I don't know why people repeatedly do that to themselves. Doing it once because you're ignorant is not so bad, but to do it more than once or twice seems retarded to me.
I had a major "aha!" moment after reading this. It is absolutely true in my experience, oddly enough. I get a pint in one of those tall thin glasses and it goes down *fast*. Otheriwse I tend to be more of a sipper. I guess I just figured that might be why they serve beer in those at some of the "chain-ier" restaurants out there. They already know this information, perhaps?
The beer shoots down the into the mouth faster, I think, less feeling against the skin above the lip (what's the term for that?), so maybe you don't get that "I have to wipe my face off" feeling, and just keep drinking?
The feeling against the lips/mouth is different between glasses, and I'd be interested to get more data about the cognitive EXPERIENCE of the beer and probably other factors... I posit that this IS an ok place for me to totally geek out on thinking I'd love to conduct an experiment on this sort of thing and learn a lot more details than this research may have accounted for.
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i wonder if they tracked the type of beer as a variable.
The diversity and expression of human opinion is essential to human survival.
The shape of the glass doesn't matter if you count how many drinks you have had.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I've drank (and still do at 32) since I was 16 and haven't thrown up from it since I was 21.
Is they stop working after about 5 minutes and someone has to replace or repair it so it starts working again.
What is this "pace themselves while drinking" TFA is referring to? I have never encountered this concept before.
I can attest that the shape of the glass causes over drinking. When I was using my half yard, I could go though a six pack of Guinness in minutes. Switch back to a pint glass and it was a leisurely half hour per.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
I'm 27 and don't drink at all.
I'm also 27 and recently stopped drinking both booze and caffeine. They just make my head fuzzy these days and I thought I'd experiment with a life where I use no substances. Recommended.
I fall in with Mr I don't drink above, although I *HAVE* drank, just not socially (and not more than a glass or equivalent based on proof at a time.) Sadly in my case, the alcohol overpowers my sense of taste, ruining the flavor of the liquor, as well as anything else I'm eating. Wine and above. Beer doesn't, but if I wanted something bitter, I'd go slap down on a 6 pack of sanbitter.
Usually when I'm at a bar the only time I look at a glass is when it's empty. The rest of the time I'm paying attention to the people I'm with.
I'm 27 and don't drink at all.
You are "The Most Boring Man in the World".
No, he's just very dry.
Ezekiel 23:20
Somebody should have told this to NYC before they banned large sodas.
If this kind of research is interesting to you, check out http://mindlesseating.org/ ... it's not a diet book, but I definitely lost a lot of weight after I read it.
Always make sure your date is using a curved glass. ;)
I don't know about this theory regarding glass shape. Fortunately I believe in science instead of a magical, invisible friend defining the rules so I can test the hypothesis myself. If you need me, I'll be running some experiments at the pub this weekend.
Yep, sounds like the attitude most people have nowadays. Nothing is ever the fault of the individual; it's always the environment that caused his actions.
I wish they served more flute shaped glasses.
Dry as in "Martini Dry"?
Personally I find beer impairs my ability to pace myself. YMMV.
Beer doesn't, but if I wanted something bitter, I'd go slap down on a 6 pack of sanbitter.
Perhaps I'm off topic now, but there are many, many beers that aren't bitter. I'm not a huge bitter beer drinker, so I avoid IPAs and anything else that's high on hops. A well-done hefeweizen, brown/red ale, and some pale/blonde ales are really fantastic beverages without the overpowering bitterness. Also, avoid anything cheap. Those are almost always bitter and/or urine flavored.
Anyhoo, I respect your decision not to drink; I just wanted to point this out in case you haven't experienced a beer that suits your tastes. Cheers!
I'll drink from either shaped glass.
Did they examine whether the curved glasses make better beer goggles?
No substances, eh? What about oxygen?
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Personally, I'm switching to curved.
Personally, I never use a glass; also, I prefer cans to bottles.
... you can only rent it!
I am a regular social drinker, and I have some fair doubts about this study.
I have tried many different beers in their trademark glasses. But regardless the glass, I always stop at 4 (British) pints of regular beer (5% alcohol level) , as that's the absolute limit of liquids I can hold in my body cage.
My answer for "why some people drink too much?".. I think they are genetically able to process alcohol much faster. Also, the colder climate can make you drink slightly more. Or it could be just that, beer is so cheap*
* - I live in south east Asia, and a pint of good beer (say Guinness, Kilkenny, Hoegarden, Leffe... even Heineken) can be as steep as 12-13 US dollars!
You are "The Most Boring Man in the World".
I don't drink alcohol and don't make a religion of it. I have plenty of friends who enjoy a beer or two or a bottle of whine, but none of them think im boring because I don't drink alcohol.
I also meet quite a few people - mostly men - who think what you think and have thought that since their late teens. Most of them have a beerbelly, a slow brain and can't losen up around women. Sad sight. I on the other hand get my age mistaken for early to mid 30ies (kind of a big deal when you're 42), enjoy good health and a brain that still is able to handle new stuff like high math, new languages and usefull programming performance.
I never understood the binge-drinking crowd in particular. I was the wimpy nerd, and the others were the tough guys smoking, getting drunk as a weekend pasttime and behaving like idiots or assholes or both at the same time and scoring the one or other early initial peer admiration. Now they all look as described above.
Aw, well, I'll just go on enjoying myself, my highscores with not-so-naive-anymore women and some neat dancing and social skills and the company that comes with them, all of which would actually easyly be spoiled by to much alcohol, but not at all but completely avoiding it.
But go ahead and keep calling somebody who doesn't drink alcohol 'boring' if you fancy.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
In the UK, lager is not beer. Beer is never served in lager glasses.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
Why do you drink and eat at the same time?
What a tedious, puritanical twat you come across as.
Depending on what it is you're eating and drinking, food and alcoholic beverages can go very well together.
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Am I the only one who finds it odd that AC's are all posting thoughtful comments, yet a signed-in Slashdot user is the one being an asshole?
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has always been a schooner. But it's been years since I've seen a bar that has one. (I have 3 at home; 2 glass, 1 wood.)
Second favorite container is the liter mug, followed by the half-liter.
After that I really don't care. I'll drink out of a jelly jar if that's all you've got.
But never plastic. Lord no, never plastic.
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You, sir have never Lived.
Never even have felt the extacy of your first sip of beer after a long hot hard days work.
How are you coping without water? ( a known and potentially deadly substance in large quantities )
No food or other substances?
Hows the lack of air going?
you know what he meant, which means he communicated perfectly fine. twat.
Pretty sure it's dry as in "Nobody knows how dry I am".
There you go, now you're not so boring after all... good man!
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If I drink too much, it's my fault. Not my glass, not the bartenders, not whom I'm with. My fault. I'm the idiot who didn't stop drinking.
Come on peeps, take responsibility for your actions. Seriously, the glasses fault that we might drink too much? What's next, it's our shoes fault when we speed?
Be seeing you...
I didn't drink until I was in my thirties, and I'm with you. It has several distinct advantages:
1. You are still invited along to events. (They do need a designated driver, after all.)
2. If you do come to drinking later in life, when you have some disposable income, you will probably never develop a taste for megaswill-in-a-can or blended whisky. Yes, this is an advantage. If it helps, recall that Starbucks is for people who like the effect that coffee has on them, but don't actually like coffee.
3. You can spend your time having actual fun. Drunkenness doesn't make for fun, it provides a mechanism for you to kid yourself that you're having fun when you actually are not.
4. I'm a nerd, and my brain is my best asset. Preserve at all costs.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
So you're one of those people who have ruined pubs by demanding food?
s/glass/users/
Never mind Spamassassin. When's Spammerassassin coming out?
Nope.
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