British study: As pints got smaller, beer sales in pubs fell

Money those who have once consumed alcohol may have noticed that a larger glass may be emptied at the same rate as a smaller one.

Now in Britain, researchers have found out how reducing the amount of beer sold at one time in a drinking establishment affects the amount of beer sold.

The result in the practical test was that the amount of beer sold and apparently also drunk decreased by almost ten percent.

Smaller portions help us drink less alcohol and may be a new way to curb consumption, researchers conclude in the bulletin.

Cantabrigian the university’s researchers finally investigated the matter in a dozen drinking places.

According to research, beer is usually served in pint cans in Britain. A pint is a measure of volume, which in deciliters is about 5.7, or more than half a liter. British newspaper The Guardianin according to that, the basic education there is probably the largest in the world.

But at the time of the study, the largest pint or glass used by restaurants was only two-thirds of a pint, or about 3.8 deciliters.

In practice, the study progressed so that pint pints or glasses were removed from use in the participating drinking establishments for four weeks. The quantities of beer sold were compared four weeks before the change and four weeks after.

Sales of beers and alongside them cider decreased by exactly 9.7 percent. The study was published Plos Medicine scientific journalä.

Previously Cambridge University researchers to investigatet that the amount of wine sold decreased by almost 8 percent, when the usually largest 2.5 deciliter wine glasses were taken out of use. A study published at the beginning of this year can be found from this link.

In this previous study, sales of beer and cider did not increase. Based on that, smaller portions of wine did not make customers switch to milder drinks.

In the new beer study, on the other hand, wine sales increased by approximately 7.2 percent when beer servings were reduced. Alcohol consumption as a whole still decreased, the researchers estimated. Moreover, half of the increase in wine was sold in one restaurant.

According to the researchers, however, it will be necessary to find out in the future whether instead of beer, people drank more other alcoholic beverages besides wine.

The daily revenues of the restaurants that participated in the study decreased by five percent. More than 1,700 restaurants or pubs were invited to the study, but only a good dozen signed up, even though the researchers said they would make up for the lost revenue.

The authors remind that reducing alcohol consumption is important for public health. Among other things, alcohol use increases the risk of seven cancers and other diseases.