Bigger glasses are making for larger Christmas tipples

Wine glasses have undergone a seven-fold increase in size over the past 300 years.

That’s the findings of scholars at Cambridge University, who also saw that the size of glasses has increased the most over the past two decades.

Wine consumption increased almost four-fold between 1960 and 1980, and almost doubled again between 1980 and 2004.

“Wine will no doubt be a feature of some merry Christmas nights, but when it comes to how much we drink, wine glass size probably does matter,” says Professor Theresa Marteau, director of the behaviour and health research unit at the University of Cambridge.

In the final line of their report, the researchers acknowledge the seasonal sensitivity to these suggestions: “We predict - with moderate confidence – that, while there will be some resistance to these suggestions, their palatability will be greater in the month of January than that of December.”

The research was funded by a Senior Investigator Award to Theresa Marteau from the National Institute for Health Research.