Pouring a soup bowl of merlot each night? A new study reveals that only pouring half a glass of wine each time you drink could lower your intake of alcohol and prevent binge drinking
Researchers have discovered that people who stick to pouring half a glass of wine each time they drink drink less than people who have no rules when drinking. 74 male and females took part in the experiment, they were a mixture of university students and staff members.
Each participant was asked to pour a normal glass of wine in 16 different settings. The researchers controlled the size, shape and colour of the glass. Each wine bottle contained different amounts of red or white wine.The research showed that the participants who poured half a glass of wine each time drank less overall compared to the participants who had no guidelines.
This shows that the participants who restricted their alcohol intake by only pouring half a glass, or sticking to the two-fingers-from-the-top of the glass rule poured less than those who had no rules.
Those who poured half a glass each time drank 20 percent less than those who did not. 
Laura Smarandescu, assistant professor of marketing at Iowa State University, where the research was carried out, suggested that only pouring half a glass can make a huge difference by reducing the amount of your alcohol intake.
Research shows that men’s BMI (body mass index) affected how much wine they poured. The men who were in the overweight and obese category poured 31 percent more wine compared to men who poured half a glass, and the men with a normal BMI and no rule of thumb poured 26 percent more.
The BMI of women didn’t affect the amount of wine women poured. But, the women who had a normal BMI poured 27 percent less wine when sticking to pouring half a glass, in contrast to the women who didn’t have a guideline.
The study revealed that men poured more wine compared to women, as the researchers expected. However, those men that decided to stick to the rule of thumb (of any BMI) poured less wine than women who didn’t have a rule of thumb.
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