Named the main benefit of smaller portions of alcohol
Scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Sheffield in the UK showed that small amounts of alcohol can help to reduce the consumption of alcoholic beverages and reduce the number of premature deaths associated with alcohol. The authors, who published in the journal Addiction. About it reported in a press release on MedicalXpress.
It is known that portion size affects how much people eat. People eat more if they are given a lot of food, however, they do not tend to compensate for small amounts.
In the study, which consisted of two parts, involved 278 people. In the first experiment, 114 volunteers, whose average age was 24.8 years, were randomly divided into two groups depending on the portion size of alcoholic drinks they could order in the next hour, sitting in the experimental room, which looked like a living room. The volume of the standard portions served at once, was about 16 grams of pure alcohol, and the small portions were 25 percent less.
In the second experiment, was attended by 164 people, each of whom was invited to a local bar on one of the four evenings. Subjects were served either a standard serving of beer and wine (0,568 litres and 0.175 liter, respectively) or reduced (0,378 liter and 0.125 liter, respectively). Session duration was three hours. In both experiments, each volunteer could order as many servings as they wanted.
It turned out that those people who took small portions, overall, drank less alcohol. In the first experiment, the reduction of the volume of alcohol consumed was 20.7−22.3 percent, and the second of 32.4−39.6 percent. According to the findings of scientists, the reduction of alcoholic drinks by a quarter in bars and restaurants would reduce the number of deaths in the UK by 5.6 and 13.2 percent per year.