James Bond: License to Swill

Roger Moore portrays British spy James Bond.

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Ever wonder why James Bond prefers his martinis shaken, not stirred?

Three U.K. doctors set out to find out whether 007 developed the preference because of an alcohol-induced tremor in his hands, and published their findings in the British Medical Journal's annual tongue-in-cheek December edition.

"Ideally, vodka martinis should be stirred, not shaken," Dr. Patrick Davies, a pediatric intensive care specialist at Nottingham University Hospitals, and his colleagues, wrote in the paper. "That Bond would make such an elementary mistake in his preferences seemed incongruous with his otherwise impeccable mastery of culinary etiquette."

So they spent seven months reading all 14 James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, taking meticulous notes about when and how much the spy drank.

They concluded that Bond's license to kill was also a license to, well, swill.

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Daniel Craig portrays British spy James Bond in the movie version of "Skyfall."

Bond drank 92 drinks a week, on average. Assuming that a unit of alcohol is 10 ml of pure ethanol, which the authors admit, they probably underestimated just how much the secret agent consumed.

According to the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans, heavy drinking for men usually means drinking more than 14 drinks per week.

The authors wrote that Bond's maximum daily consumption was in "From Russia with Love" in which he drank 49.8 drinks per day -- in case you were wondering.

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Sean Connery portrays British spy James Bond in the movie version of "Diamonds Are Forever."

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Pierce Brosan portrays British spy James Bond in the movie version of "Die Another Day."