How the British pint compares to beer glasses around the world

The British pint is a beloved thing, with more than a billion pints sold every year throughout the UK. But scientists are calling on pubs to shrink the pint to reduce alcohol consumption and improve the health of millions.

A study led by Cambridge scientists found that pub goers drank nearly 10% less beer when they were served with glasses two-thirds the size of the imperial pint. They said that reducing alcohol consumption should be a public health priority, as alcohol has been linked to a number of diseases and health conditions.

Professor Dame Theresa Marteau, senior author of the study, told The Times: "We’ve got increasing harm from alcohol. It contributes to increased risk from seven different cancers, and it’s also a contributor to the gap in life expectancy and health between the richest and the poorest."

According to the NHS, alcohol misuse - which means drinking in a way that’s harmful or when a person is dependent on alcohol - can increase a drinker’s risk of serious health conditions like heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and some cancers such as bowel and liver cancer.

Dame Marteau said that serving smaller glasses of beer could lead to a positive impact on the health of the population. However, she acknowledged that any change in beer glass size would “need to be part of licensing regulation”.

The British imperial pint has been around for a very long time. According to Britannica, which publishes the world’s oldest continuously published encyclopaedia, the pint has been a common measure in Great Britain since the 14th century.

It is also one of the largest standard serving sizes for draught beer in the world. The British pint is 20% bigger than the American pint, and also outsizes pints in Belgium and Germany, two of the beer capitals of the world, as well as France and Australia.

The researchers asked 13 premises in England to shelve their pint glasses for four weeks and offer smaller glasses to customers instead. They then compared the total volume of beer sold during this period compared to non-study periods, and found that the daily mean volume of beer sold declined by 9.7%.

“The results suggest that when the largest serving size of draught beer was not available, people shifted to the next available size, the two-third pint, which resulted in them drinking less,” the study authors wrote.

They were surprised to find that customers pushed back less than expected when offered a smaller glass of beer. However, it is unknown whether this was because customers understood it was a temporary measure, or because they realised two-thirds of a pint was a sufficient serving.

Scientists said more resistance was met when approaching premises to take on the challenge of reducing pint sizes. They initially asked more than 1,700 establishments to take part in the study, but were only able to convince 13.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change UK, tells Yahoo UK: "Serving beer and cider in smaller glasses has been permitted in the UK since 2011 and it's certainly worth pubs and bars making it an option. Building on the existing body of evidence, this latest study shows that it can reduce the consumption of alcohol which will always be better for our health.

"Yet, with just 13 of more than 1700 establishments agreeing to take part despite the offer of compensation for lost income, it's clear that it's not in the interests of alcohol-led hospitality businesses, serving as a useful reminder why action to tackle alcohol harm cannot be left to the alcohol industry and must instead be led by Government.

"While smaller sized glasses can be effective in reducing consumption, we urge decisionmakers to remember that the most powerful, cost-effective ways to reduce alcohol harm are to address how it's marketed, priced, and made so readily available to us. It's not about being anti-beer or anti-pubs or even anti-alcohol, but being serious about addressing alcohol harm."

Read more about alcohol and health:

• The surprising way red wine can actually benefit your gut health (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)

• The long-term effects of alcohol use, as UK has worst rates among children (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)

• Should children be allowed in pubs? (Yahoo Life UK, 7-min read)