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Smaller serving sizes of alcoholic drinks could reduce alcohol consumption across populations thereby decreasing the risk of several diseases. Removing the largest serving of wine by the glass from the range of available options in licensed premises can decrease wine sales – a proxy for consumption - but there is a lack of evidence surrounding the use of equivalent interventions for reducing consumption of other alcoholic drinks. This study will assess the impact on beer sales of removing the largest serving size of draught beer by the glass (1 pint), so that the largest serving size available becomes 2/3rds of a pint. The study will be conducted in 10 licensed premises (pubs, bars and restaurants) in England. It will take place over three 4-weekly periods using an ABA reversal design, where A will be the non-intervention period, during which standard sizes will be served, and B the intervention period, during which the largest serving size of draught beer and cider (pint) will be removed from premises’ existing range and the largest serving size available becomes 2/3pint. Where 2/3pints are not usually served, the intervention will include introducing this serving size. The primary outcome will be the daily volume of beer and cider sold, extracted from sales data. The results of this study will provide novel and important evidence regarding the potential to reduce alcohol consumption at population-level by modifying the range of serving sizes of beer and cider in licensed premises, with direct relevance for public health policies tackling alcohol consumption.

Additional file 1: Additional Methods and Results

This review summarises the evidence on the impact of serving and container size on how much people drink, interventions that have the potential to reduce alcohol consumption across populations, thereby improving health. A rapid search identified 10 published reports of 15 studies and 1 review. Four studies focused on serving size, eight studies and the review on glass size, two studies on bottle size and one on both glass and bottle size. Twelve studies and the review focused on wine, one study on beer and two on both. All were conducted in England, by just two research groups. Removing the largest serving size of wine decreased wine sales by 7.6% (95% CI −12.3%, −2.9%) in a study in 21 licenced premises, reflecting findings from two prior studies in semi-naturalistic settings. Adding a serving size for beer that was a size smaller than the largest was assessed in one study in 13 licenced premises, with no evident effect. Reducing the size of wine glasses in restaurants decreased wine sales by 7.3% (95% CI −13.5%, −1.5%) in a mega-analysis of eight datasets from studies in five licensed premises. Using smaller wine glasses at home may also reduce consumption, but the evidence from just one study is less certain. No studies have assessed the impact of glass size for drinking beer. The effect of bottles smaller than the standard 750 mL on wine consumed at home was assessed in two studies: 500 mL bottles reduced consumption by 4.5% (95% CI −7.9%, −1.0%) in one study, but in another, using 375 mL bottles there was no evident effect. No studies assessed the impact of bottle or other container size for drinking beer. Reducing the size of servings, glasses and bottles could reduce wine consumption across populations. The impact of similar interventions for reducing consumption of other alcoholic drinks awaits evaluation. Further studies are also warranted to assess the generalisability of existing evidence.

Background: Reducing alcohol consumption across populations would prevent a range of non-communicable diseases, including some cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Large bottles increase wine consumption at home and larger glasses increase wine sales in restaurants. The size of wine glasses used with different‐sized bottles may enhance or diminish any effect of bottle size, but the combined effect of different bottle and glass sizes on wine consumption is unknown. The aim of the current study is to assess the impact of bottle size and glass size, singly and in combination, on wine consumption at home Design: Mixed design with glass size treated as a between-subjects factor and bottle size as a within-subjects factor. Methods: During each of two 14-day intervention periods, 238 households in the UK will be requested to purchase a pre-set volume of wine - based on their baseline self-reported weekly consumption- in either 75cl or 37.5 cl bottles, in randomised order. Purchasing of each bottle size will be separated by a “usual behaviour” period of a maximum of three weeks. Households will also be randomised to receive either small (290ml) or large (350ml) glasses from which to drink the wine during both intervention periods. On days 7 and 14 of each of the two 14-day intervention periods, households will be requested to send information regarding the date each bottle was opened and finished and who drank from it, as well as photographs of all their study wine bottles and wine glasses, with all bottles weighted and photographed on study scales. The primary outcome is the volume of wine consumed at the end of each intervention period. Discussion: The findings of this study will provide the best estimate to date of the impact of bottle size and glass size, singly and in combination, on wine consumed at home, to inform scientific and policy discussions about the effectiveness of sizing interventions to reduce alcohol consumption across populations.

The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of running a randomised controlled trial on the impact of bottle size on consumption of wine in homes.

Two online studies to investigate the impact of health warning labels on selection of alcohol

This is a pre-registration of the detailed statistical analysis plan, before any analyses are conducted.

Series of online studies (pre-pilot, pilot and main study) assessing the impact of communicating evidence of the effectiveness of goverment policies for achieving one or more benefits relating to reduced consumption of energy-dense food, meat and alcohol. The aim of the pilot studies is on developing the messages to be used in the main study

Two online studies to investigate the impact of health warning labels on selection of alcohol

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of altering serving sizes of beer and wine in licensed premises on alcohol sales, a proxy for alcohol consumption. The study assesses two distinct interventions: 1. Adding a two-third pint option for beer and cider sold on tap; 2. Removing the largest serving size for a glass of wine. A minimum of 19 sites will be recruited and a reversal design will be used for each intervention with serving sizes changed twice over three four-week periods.

Additional file 1. Supplementary material.

International audience; Body awareness and embodiment are core terms and research topics being used to comment on the new interdisciplinary aspects of virtual immersive experiences. In this article, we present the methodology adopted in the Disembody research project with the aim to explore body-space relationship through the lenses of interdisciplinary considerations drawn from architecture and cognitive science. Employing an empirical, case study approach inside virtual reality (VR), we came up with observations about how virtual embodiment can be experienced as an instance of otherness embodiment that generates a sensation of alloæsthesia. This post-human condition can be bi-directionally fed into re-establishing the body-space relationship towards expanded architectural and cognitive perspectives.

AIM: To assess the impact of purchasing wine in 50 cl bottles compared with 75 cl bottles on the amount of wine consumed at home. DESIGN: Cross-over randomized controlled trial with a 'usual behaviour' period of a maximum of 3 weeks between conditions. SETTING: Households in the United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and eighty-six households that consumed between two and eight 75 cl bottles of wine each week. INTERVENTION: Households were randomized to the order in which they purchased wine in two bottle sizes. During two 14-day intervention periods, households purchased a pre-set volume of wine-based on their baseline self-reported weekly consumption-in either 75 cl bottles or 50 cl bottles. On days 7 and 14 of each study period, participating households sent photographs of each purchased wine bottle. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was the volume of study wine in millilitres (ml) consumed during each study period estimated through returned photographs. The secondary outcome was the rate of consumption measured by the mean number of days taken to drink 1.5 litres from each bottle size. FINDINGS: One hundred and sixty-six of 186 enrolled households satisfactorily completed the study. After accounting for pre-specified covariates, 191.1 ml [95% confidence interval (CI) = 42.03-339.2] or 4.5% (95% CI = 1.0-7.9%) more wine was consumed per 14-day period from 75-cl bottles than from 50-cl bottles. Consumption was 5.8% faster (95% CI = -10.9 to -0.4%) from 75 cl bottles than from 50 cl bottles. CONCLUSIONS: Consuming wine at home from 50 cl bottles, compared with 75 cl bottles, may reduce both amount consumed and rate of consumption.

Additional file 2. â Daily wine sales (litres per day) for each establishment, by glass size [unadjusted mean (SD)]â â table showing unadjusted means of wine sales in each establishment.

Uncertainties remain about the overall effect of sit-stand desks for reducing prolonged sitting among office-based workers. This study assessed the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial of the impact of workplace sit-stand desks on overall energy expenditure, sitting time and cardio-metabolic outcomes. It involved four phases: Phase I: online survey; Phase II: workspace auditing; Phase III: randomised intervention (provision of sit-stand desks at work for 3 months); Phase IV: qualitative component. Participants were offıce-based employees of two companies in Cambridge, England. Among Phase I participants interested in the trial, 100 were randomised to Phase II. Of those with workspaces suitable for sit-stand desks, 20 were randomised to Phase III. Those allocated to the intervention completed Phase IV. Outcomes included: trial participation interest, desk-type (full desks/desk mounts) and assessment location (work/laboratory/home) preferences (Phase I); proportion of workspaces permitting sit-stand desk installation (Phase II); energy expenditure, sitting time and cardio-metabolic outcomes (Phase III); study participation experiences (Phase IV). Data were collected between May 2015 and December 2016. Recruitment and trial implementation were feasible: 92% of survey respondents expressed participation interest; 80% of workspaces could accommodate sit-stand desks; assessments were done in workplaces, preferred by 71%. Sit-stand desk provision reduced workplace sitting time by 94 min/day (95% CI 17.7–170.7). Their impact on energy expenditure and cardio-metabolic outcomes is unclear. The results confirm the feasibility of a trial assessing sit-stand desks' impact on energy expenditure, sitting time and cardio-metabolic outcomes, which should reduce uncertainty concerning the intervention's potential to reduce the health risks of prolonged sitting.Trial registration ISRCTN44827407. Keywords: Sit-stand desks, Standing desks, Height-adjustable desks, Sitting, Standing, Energy expenditure, Sedentary behaviour, Feasibility study