James Bond’s love of vodka martinis “shaken, not stirred” is likely due to an inability to stir his drinks due to alcohol-induced tremors, British doctors have deduced.
After reading all 14 original James Bond novels and taking meticulous notes on every alcoholic beverage imbibed, doctors at Nottingham University Hospital found that Bond polishes off 92 drinks a week -- which would affect his ability to perform in all aspects of life.
To put it in perspective, that’s the equivalent of five vodka martinis or one and a half bottles of wine every day.
The study’s doctors say his alcoholic intake puts him in the highest risk group for malignancies, depression, hypertension and cirrhosis (an abnormal liver condition).
“He is also at high risk of suffering from sexual dysfunction, which would considerably affect his womanizing,” they wrote in the study published in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal.
After charting 007’s drinks throughout Ian Fleming’s entire series -- excluding the 36 days Bond spent in prison, hospital, or rehab -- researchers found that the spy downed an average of 92 units of alcohol a week. (A unit is defined as about 10 ml, or 0.3 ounces, of pure alcohol.) That’s more than four times the safe amount of recommended alcohol by the British government.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, for example, advises Canadians to limit their alcohol intake to two drinks a day for women, and three drinks a day for men.
One “drink” is about 1.4 ounces (43 ml) of distilled alcohol, 5 ounces (148 ml) of wine, or one pint of beer.
Bond’s biggest daily drinking binge was in “From Russia with Love,” when he downed almost 50 drinks. And the doctors suspect alcohol may have been a factor in Bond’s “Casino Royale” car crash, after he knocked back 39 units of alcohol before engaging in a high-speed car chase.
Bond had only 12.5 alcohol-free days during the course of the fictional series, according to the analysis.
“Although we appreciate the societal pressures to consume alcohol when working with international terrorists and high-stakes gamblers, we would advise Bond be referred for further assessment of his alcohol intake and reduce his intake to safe levels,” the researchers concluded.
While the study was meant to be lighthearted, the doctors say the study addresses important issues about alcohol consumption, as excess consumption is a “societal and health problem throughout the world.”
Alcohol is thought to be the cause of 4 per cent of deaths worldwide, or 2.5 million deaths each year.
