And you, sir, would be perhaps Hans, Hans Bond? BTW,
whatever happened to H@ns?
Christmas Carole
--- Hans van der Genugten <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> BMJ 1999;319:1600-1602 (18 December 1999)
>
> Shaken, not stirred: bioanalytical study of the
> antioxidant activities of
> martinis
> C C Trevithick, research assistant, M M Chartrand,
> research assistant, J
> Wahlman, research assistant, F Rahman, research
> assistant, M Hirst,
> professor, J R Trevithick, professor.
>
> Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and
> Dentistry, University of
> Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1
>
> Correspondence to: J R Trevithick [log in to unmask]
>
> Background:
> Moderate consumption of alcoholic drinks seems to reduce
> the risks of
> developing cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cataracts,
> perhaps through
> antioxidant actions of their alcohol, flavonoid, or
> polyphenol contents.
> "Shaken, not stirred" routinely identifies the way the
> famous secret agent
> James Bond requires his martinis.
>
> Objectives:
> As Mr Bond is not afflicted by cataracts or
> cardiovascular disease, an
> investigation was conducted to determine whether the mode
> of preparing
> martinis has an influence on their antioxidant capacity.
>
> Design:
> Stirred and shaken martinis were assayed for their
> ability to quench
> luminescence by a luminescent procedure in which hydrogen
> peroxide reacts
> with luminol bound to albumin. Student's t test was used
> for statistical
> analysis.
>
> Results:
> Shaken martinis were more effective in deactivating
> hydrogen peroxide than
> the stirred variety, and both were more effective than
> gin or vermouth alone
> (0.072% of peroxide control for shaken martini, 0.157%
> for stirred v 58.3%
> for gin and 1.90% for vermouth). The reason for this is
> not clear, but it
> may well not involve the facile oxidation of reactive
> martini components:
> control martinis through which either oxygen or nitrogen
> was bubbled did not
> differ in their ability to deactivate hydrogen peroxide
> (0.061% v 0.057%)
> and did not differ from the shaken martini. Moreover,
> preliminary
> experiments indicate that martinis are less well endowed
> with polyphenols
> than Sauvignon white wine or Scotch whisky (0.056 mmol/l
> (catechin
> equivalents) shaken, 0.060 mmol/l stirred v 0.592 mmol/l
> wine, 0.575 mmol/l
> whisky).
>
> Conclusions:
> 007's profound state of health may be due, at least in
> part, to compliant
> bartenders.
>
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