A silly study of James Bond's drinking habits reaches silly conclusions

James Bond series author Ian Fleming

Form the comical Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal:

Dr. Patrick Davies and colleagues at Nottingham University Hospital analyzed 14 James Bond books and documented every drink Bond had. They also noted days when he was unable to drink, such as when he was hospitalized, in rehab or imprisoned.

The academics found that the spy also known as 007 drank about 92 units of alcohol a week; more than four times the safe amount recommended by the British government.

One unit is about eight grams of pure alcohol. A pint of beer has three units of alcohol, about the same as a large glass of wine.

Bond's drinking habits put him at high risk for numerous alcohol-related diseases and an early alcohol-related death, the authors write.

"The level of functioning as displayed in the books is inconsistent with the physical, mental and indeed sexual functioning expected from someone drinking this much alcohol," the authors conclude.

Davies and colleagues also suspect Bond's trademark order that his martinis be "shaken, not stirred" may have been because he had an alcohol-induced tremor and was simply unable to stir his drinks.

What really would keep these people busy would be a study of the drinking habits of the fictional Nick and Nora Charles from The Thin Man series:



h/t Doug D.

Plus: a link to the study