James Bond isn't exactly known to be the best of role models, even for his biggest fans. He may save the day and have buckets of charisma on his side, but his lifestyle isn't exactly the most healthy one.

He frequently puts himself and others at risk in reckless and destructive chases and fights across the world, nearly dropping his home country into a political hailstorm, but then there's his personal life - which involves a hell of a lot of booze, whether he's on the job or not.

It's not often that a key trait of a character is their favourite choice of beverage, but one of the few things everyone knows about 007 - even if you haven't seen a single entry in the series - is that he likes a Vesper Martini, "shaken not stirred". But, according to a recent study, puntastically titled 'License to Swill', this amounts to a serious drinking problem.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

Researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand studied the movies, publishing their findings in the Medical Journal of Australia. “There is strong and consistent evidence that James Bond has a chronic alcohol consumption problem at the ‘severe’ end of the spectrum,” the study states.

According to the study, the research staff studied 24 Bond movies, finding that he drank alcohol "heavily and consistently over six decades". He ended up totalling 209 drinks over all the movies, with an average of 4.5 drinks consumed per movie.

The highest count was in 2008's Quantum of Solace, where he drank six Vesper Martinis - amounting to 24 units of alcohol and bringing his blood alcohol level to an estimated 0.36 per cent. In one book, he manages to drink 50 units of alcohol, which they explain is "a level of consumption which would kill nearly everyone."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Instagram/@007]]

Lead author Professor Nick Wilson said:

"Chronic risks include frequently drinking prior to fights, driving vehicles (including in chases), high stakes gambling, operating complex machinery or devices, contact with dangerous animals, extreme athletic performance and sex with enemies, sometimes with guns or knives in the bed.

"Other notable features include a medical scan that showed his liver was 'not too good' and a MI6 report on Bond that stated, 'alcohol and substance addiction indicated'.

"Nevertheless, Bond has partial insight into his problem, admitting he drinks “too much” [in 2015's Spectre]"

[[imagecaption|| Credit: BMJ]]

This isn't the first time people have studied the Bond movies to track his drinking. An infographic shared by Buddy Loans from back in 2015 revealed that over 23 movies, the British spy drank 277 units of alcohol. To put this in perspective, when converted to blood alcohol level, he's at 3.7 percent - which is beyond lethal.

So, while a lot of us enjoy watching him on the big screen - don't be too hard on yourself for not keeping up with his lifestyle, as it's far more likely to bring him down than Blofeld or any other arch enemy is.

James Bond isn't exactly known to be the best of role models, even for his biggest fans. He may save the day and have buckets of charisma on his side, but his lifestyle isn't exactly the most healthy one.

He frequently puts himself and others at risk in reckless and destructive chases and fights across the world, nearly dropping his home country into a political hailstorm, but then there's his personal life - which involves a hell of a lot of booze, whether he's on the job or not.

It's not often that a key trait of a character is their favourite choice of beverage, but one of the few things everyone knows about 007 - even if you haven't seen a single entry in the series - is that he likes a Vesper Martini, "shaken not stirred". But, according to a recent study, puntastically titled 'License to Swill', this amounts to a serious drinking problem.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

Researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand studied the movies, publishing their findings in the Medical Journal of Australia. “There is strong and consistent evidence that James Bond has a chronic alcohol consumption problem at the ‘severe’ end of the spectrum,” the study states.

According to the study, the research staff studied 24 Bond movies, finding that he drank alcohol "heavily and consistently over six decades". He ended up totalling 209 drinks over all the movies, with an average of 4.5 drinks consumed per movie.

The highest count was in 2008's Quantum of Solace, where he drank six Vesper Martinis - amounting to 24 units of alcohol and bringing his blood alcohol level to an estimated 0.36 per cent. In one book, he manages to drink 50 units of alcohol, which they explain is "a level of consumption which would kill nearly everyone."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Instagram/@007]]

Lead author Professor Nick Wilson said:

"Chronic risks include frequently drinking prior to fights, driving vehicles (including in chases), high stakes gambling, operating complex machinery or devices, contact with dangerous animals, extreme athletic performance and sex with enemies, sometimes with guns or knives in the bed.

"Other notable features include a medical scan that showed his liver was 'not too good' and a MI6 report on Bond that stated, 'alcohol and substance addiction indicated'.

"Nevertheless, Bond has partial insight into his problem, admitting he drinks “too much” [in 2015's Spectre]"

[[imagecaption|| Credit: BMJ]]

This isn't the first time people have studied the Bond movies to track his drinking. An infographic shared by Buddy Loans from back in 2015 revealed that over 23 movies, the British spy drank 277 units of alcohol. To put this in perspective, when converted to blood alcohol level, he's at 3.7 percent - which is beyond lethal.

So, while a lot of us enjoy watching him on the big screen - don't be too hard on yourself for not keeping up with his lifestyle, as it's far more likely to bring him down than Blofeld or any other arch enemy is.