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