WELLINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond is a "severe" alcoholic, according to a new study by public health researchers in New Zealand.
"Bond has drunk heavily and consistently across six decades ... We classified him as having severe alcohol use disorder," said the study titled "Licence to swill: James Bond's drinking over six decades," which was published Monday in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Experts at the University of Otago in New Zealand analyzed a total of 24 Bond movies from 1962 to 2015 to study his patterns of alcohol use.
The experts found that Bond was seen sipping on alcohol 109 times over the six decades, with an average of 4.5 times per movie, and his peak binge was in 2008's "Quantum of Solace," where he drank six of his signature Vesper Martinis, equal to 24 units of alcohol which could be fatal.
The British agent met more than half of the criteria for alcohol use disorder as defined by the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 criteria classification system for mental disorders.
"Chronic risks for Bond 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," the study said.
As Bond "has a severe chronic alcohol problem," the study suggested that he should "consider seeking professional help and find other strategies for managing on-the-job stress."
