1. martini
Everybody knows he likes his martinis shaken, not stirred, but could James Bond have liked his martinis a bit too much?
Doctors publishing this study realize that it’s a bit light-hearted. Perhaps it started out as a hobby of sorts. But now they are hoping that the information they published in a British medical journal will help put a spotlight on alcoholism and its dangers.
Doctors in Derby and Nottingham, England enjoy reading James Bond novels and then noting how often and how much alcohol the gentleman spy consumes. Then they share the results with each other. After reading 14 novels they noted that Bond, James Bond, checked in with astonishing statistics such as:
  • 88 days of alcohol consumption, adding up to 1, 150 units of alcohol.
  • An average of 92 units of alcohol per week. Men in the UK are advised to keep it under 21 per week or 3-4 per day. Bond averages 4 vodka martinis per day. WAY over the limit.
  • Consuming 39 units in one sitting in the novel Casino Royale, then jumping into his car for a high speed chase, resulting in a crash that landed him in the hospital for 2 weeks.
“You wouldn’t want this person defusing a nuclear bomb,” Patrick Davies, a consultant in pediatric intensive care at Nottingham University Hospitals, to the BBC. “He’s a very glamorous person, he gets all the girls and that’s totally incompatible with the lifestyle of an alcoholic, which he is.”
The doctors are hoping more people will understand the dangers of alcoholism, including liver damage, impotence and early death. It’s responsible for 2.5 million death per year, globally.
“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 said.
It’s interesting to see this study in a medical journal, as it throws a bright light on the realities of alcoholism, not the glamor that can be associated with drinking.