Wine glasses in Britain have doubled in size since the 1990s – which scientists believe is making people drink more.
Cambridge University researchers assessed glasses dating back hundreds of years, and found they now hold measures more than seven times larger than the meagre tipples enjoyed in the past.
They found the average glass in 1700 contained just 66ml – around the amount in a double shot of spirits. Today, wine glasses hold an average 449ml.
And the biggest glass they found on sale could hold 860ml – enough to take an entire bottle of wine.
The researchers assessed antique glasses in museums, browsed the catalogues of glassware manufacturers and consulted the Royal household records, obtaining the volumes of 411 glasses.
Their findings, published in the British Medical Journal, reveal the biggest increase has been in the past 30 years, with glasses nearly doubling in size from an average of 230ml in 1990.
The scientists, from the Behaviour And Health Research Unit in Cambridge, believe this could be driving consumption rates, which increased almost four-fold in Britain between 1960 and 1980, and almost doubled again between 1980 and 2004.
