Docs should screen for booze: study

Here’s to your health.

Screening and counseling for unhealthy alcohol use should become part of a standard doctor’s visit, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The federally funded organization published its recommendation in the medical journal JAMA.

The task force “recommends screening for unhealthy alcohol use in primary-care settings in adults 18 years or older, including pregnant women, and providing persons engaged in risky or hazardous drinking with brief behavioral counseling interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use.”

The report cites statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to define “risky use” of alcohol as exceeding the recommended limits of four drinks a day or 14 drinks a week for healthy adult men ages 21 to 64. For women, it’s defined as three drinks a day or seven drinks a week. That standard also applies to men 65 or older.