Glass shape alters drinking speed?

Did you know that the shape of the beer glass affects the speed people drink? Researchers at the University of Bristol believe so.

"Drinking time is slowed by almost 60 per cent when an alcoholic beverage is presented in a straight glass compared with a curved glass," their study said.

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, suggests people drink more quickly out of curved glasses than straight ones.

They argue that the curvy glassware makes pacing yourself a much greater challenge, the BBC reported.

A group of 159 men and women were filmed drinking either soft drinks or beer as part of the study. The glasses all contained around half a pint of liquid, but some of the glasses were straight while others were very curved.

There was no difference in the drinking time for soft drinks. People drinking from both straight and curved glasses finished after around seven minutes.

However, for the beer drinkers there was a large difference between the two groups. While it took around seven minutes for people drinking from a curved glass to polish off their half pint, it took 11 minutes for those drinking from a straight glass.

The researchers thought that curvy glasses made it harder to pace drinking because judging how much was in the glass became more difficult owing to its curved shape.

The group of drinkers was shown a variety of pictures of partially-filled beer glasses and asked to say whether they were more or less than half full.

The team said people were more likely to get the answer wrong when assessing the amount of liquid in curved glasses.

The lead researcher Dr Angela Attwood said, "They are unable to judge how quickly they are drinking so cannot pace themselves."

She suggested that people were not concerned about pacing themselves with soft drinks, which could explain why glass shape had no effect on them.

... contd.

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