No point in reducing the size of a pint, researchers say

Researchers at Cambridge University have called for beer and cider to be served in smaller glasses in the United Kingdom, after a study found it could reduce alcohol consumption and harm.

But Alcohol Healthwatch, an organisation that works to reduce and prevent alcohol-related harm in Aotearoa, said doing the same here would be unlikely to have much of an impact.

The study, conducted in England, found beer and cider consumption dropped by about 10 percent in pubs, bars and restaurants where customers were offered a 2/3 pint as the largest serving.

Unlike in New Zealand, beer glass sizes are standardised. A UK pint equates to 568ml, while a 2/3 pint is 378ml.

"Removing the offer of pints in 13 licensed premises for four weeks reduced the volume of beer sold," the study's authors said.

"This is in keeping with the emerging literature showing that smaller serving sizes help us drink less and presents a novel way of reducing alcohol consumption."

The authors said in turn, that could decrease the risk of several cancers and other diseases.

But Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway said reducing the maximum serving size of beer and cider in New Zealand would be unlikely to have a meaningful impact on alcohol harm here.

"For the New Zealand setting where we have a higher rate of home-based drinking, it probably wouldn't be the measure I would look at first to reduce the rates of our hazardous and harmful drinking."

He said while he could see reducing serving sizes being of benefit to countries with a strong pub drinking culture, like the UK, in New Zealand it was drinking in the home where most of the damage was done.

Galloway said making alcohol more expensive in supermarkets and liquor stores would have a greater impact.

"Price control measures or measures to impact price affordability is one of the most evidence-based measures the government could look at.

"It's been done in Scotland through minimum unit pricing. I think is an attractive policy intervention which wouldn't affect the price in bar and pub settings, but it would reduce the amount of that very cheap alcohol we see in retail settings."

Minimum unit pricing means alcohol cannot be sold for less than a set price per standard drink, which tends only to affect the price of the cheapest alcohol available.

Galloway said it would be even better if minimum unit pricing was coupled with further increase in excise tax so the government could recoup some of the cost of alcohol harm.

That cost was recently estimated at $9.1 billion.

Hospitality New Zealand also did not believe reducing alcohol serving sizes would benefit Aotearoa.

"We firmly believe on-premise licensed environments are the safest place to consume alcohol," Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Steve Armitage said.

"Our view is measures reducing servicing sizes for on-premise environments would have no meaningful impact on alcohol related harm."

Armitage said New Zealand was actually improving its relationship with alcohol.

"According to Stats NZ, alcohol consumption per capita has declined 29 percent since 1986.

"The NZ Health survey says that more than four out of five adult New Zealanders are drinking beer, wine and spirits responsibly, and when compared with other countries in the OECD, Kiwis are drinking less than the OECD average."

Armitage also said unlike in the UK, New Zealand did not have a standardised measure for what constituted a pint, and most servings were smaller than the British measure.

A 'pint' of beer in New Zealand generally means the largest size on offer. At most bars, pubs and restaurants in Aotearoa, ordering a pint will get you a glass sized anywhere between 400ml right through to 568ml.