Wine Glass Shape Influences How Much You Drink, Study Suggests

The amount of wine you drink is influenced by the shape of the glass, and whether you are holding the glass when you pour it, a new study suggests.

Study participants were told to pour what they considered to be a normal amount of wine into a glass. When they used a wide glass, they poured about 12 percent more than when they poured into a narrow glass. They poured 12 percent more when they held the glass, compared to when they set it on a table, CBS News reports.

The study also found participants poured 9 percent more white wine into a glass than red wine.

Using narrower wine glasses and not pouring while holding the glass may help modestly reduce the amount of wine a social drinker pours and drinks, the researchers note.

“People have trouble assessing volumes,” co-author Laura Smarandescu of Iowa State said in a news release. “They tend to focus more on the vertical than the horizontal measures. That’s why people tend to drink less when they drink from a narrow glass, because they think they’re drinking more.”

The findings appear in the journal Substance Use and Misuse.

A study published last year found people tend to drink beer more slowly if it is served in a straight glass instead of a curved one.