The capacity of wine glasses has increased sevenfold in the last 300 years and most steeply in the last two decades, a study has found.

Researchers believe this growth in glass size may have encouraged the nation's increasing wine consumption, which rose almost fourfold between 1960 and 1980, and almost doubled again between 1980 and 2004.

Wine glass capacity was found to have increased from 66ml in the 1700s to 417ml in the 2000s, with the mean wine glass size in 2016/17 being 449ml although the study, published in the BMJ, acknowledged that cheaper prices, wider availability and greater marketing were also likely to have played a role.