To reduce alcohol consumption, British researchers suggest reducing the size of pints of beer

Should the size of British beer pints be reduced? The question arises after a test conducted by Cambridge researchers. The results were published on Tuesday 17 September in the scientific journal Plos Medicine. This experiment lasted three months in a dozen English pubs. It shows that with mugs a third less full, the consumption of beer and cider naturally decreased by 10%, without frustration of the regulars, the prices being obviously adapted.

Consumers are counting the number of pints rather than the centilitres they drink. Some of them, who used to drink two pints, have stuck to their two reduced pints, while to reach the usual volume of consumption, logically they would have ordered a third. These researchers are talking about thousands of lives that could be saved in Great Britain thanks to this simple measure. Across the Channel, one in five adults exceed the recommended amounts of alcohol for health, which increases the risk of seven cancers and around sixty other diseases. The health recommendation is not to exceed two drinks a day and not every day.

Regarding this idea of ​​shrinking pints of beer. The resistance could come from professionals. Of the 1,700 establishments that were invited to join the operation, only 13 responded. However, we must not forget that the British pint is one of the largest formats in the world with a capacity of 568 ml, compared to 500 ml as in France or Germany. Reducing it by a third would make it 378 ml, so it would be less full than the American pint, which is 473 ml, but fuller than the Belgian pint, which contains 250 ml. It is the equivalent of our half. In short, all this shows that it is also a question of vocabulary habits… and also of psychology because science shows that consumers are much more attached to the dose than to the quantity contained in the dose. It is an interesting lever to change consumption habits in the right direction. A process that also works to help change eating habits.

Several dozen studies have shown that on average when you reduce the diameter of your plate by 30%, you also spontaneously reduce the amount of food you eat by 30%. Our brain is also quite easily fooled by a slightly smaller slice of cake or pizza. It is possible to reduce the amount of food you eat by an average of 16% by adjusting the portions, without affecting your feeling of hunger.