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Kerr added that many countries have official standard drink sizes that differ from the U.S. standard. "Most of these, such as the United Kingdom standard of eight to 10 grams of alcohol are smaller than the U.S. standard," he said. "However, in no case are these standards based on studies of what drinkers actually consume. In fact, this is the first study to utilize beaker-measured drink sizes and brand-level percentage alcohol by volume information in a national sample in the U.S."

Kerr and his colleagues re-contacted 310 drinkers from the 2000 National Alcohol Survey to request their participation in a telephone survey that included specific questions about alcohol beverages consumed at home. Study participants were given a beaker to measure each alcoholic beverage that they prepared at home. Information was also gathered about the brand or type of each product in order to determine as accurately as possible the percentage of alcohol.

Results indicate that the 0.6 ounce measure of pure alcohol in a standard drink is a reasonable single standard. "The mean drink alcohol content was 0.67 ounces, which is 11.7 percent larger than the 0.6 ounce standard drink," said Kerr. "A single-drink standard is helpful for simplifying messages about safe drinking limits and driving-under-the-influence limits as compared to having different standards for each beverage."

However, there exists considerable variation in drink size, and beverages with smaller standard serving sizes such as spirits and wine show greater discrepancies in their alcohol content. "Wine and spirits drinks are on average larger and more variable than beer drinks," said Kerr, "with spirits drinks averaging nearly 50 percent more alcohol than the U.S. standard drink."

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14-Nov-2005