Have you ever wondered why James Bond always looks like a fit and healthy man in his early 40s, even when his CV says he was born 75 years ago?
Here's an answer: he drinks his martinis shaken, not stirred.
That is the conclusion of an unconventional study by Canadian scientists who carried out research into the capacities of alcohol to maintain good health.
When drunk in modest quantities, alcohol seems to reduce the risks of developing cardiovascular disease, stroke and cataracts.
This may be because it has agents that "mop up" oxidants - oxygen-charged molecules, called free radicals, that can damage cells and eventually trigger disease.
Researchers at the University of Western Ontario, writing in tomorrow's issue of the British Medical Journal, compare shaken martinis and stirred martinis in laboratory conditions.
The cocktails - two parts gin with one part vermouth - were poured into laboratory dishes, to see how they reacted to an amount of hydrogen peroxide, a well-known oxidant. The clear winner was 007's favourite tipple.
"There was twice as much peroxide remaining after treatment with the stirred martinis than after the shaken variety. Thus, shaken martinis are better able to `neutralise' peroxide than stirred martinis," they write.