(CNN) You can expect a "drinking checkup" when you visit the doctor. All adults, including pregnant women, should be screened for unhealthy alcohol use by their primary care physicians, the United States Preventive Services Task Force advises. For those patients who drink above the recommended limits, doctors should provide brief counseling to help them reduce their drinking, according to the new task force statement published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA.

As far as teens, the independent panel of medical experts came up empty. The task force said it did not find enough evidence to make a recommendation for or against alcohol screening and counseling for those under the age of 18. The panel is calling for more research.

Unhealthy alcohol use means drinking beyond the recommended limits. No more than four drinks in a single day and 14 drinks in a week is the line drawn for men age 21 to 64, according to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism . For women and older men, the institute advises no more than three drinks in one day and no more than seven drinks in a week. There is no safe level of alcohol for pregnant women, according to the institute.

The negative consequences of too much alcohol include illness, injury, and death -- unhealthy alcohol use ranks as the third leading preventable cause of death in the US according to the task force. When pregnant women drink, birth defects and developmental problems in their children may follow.

Too many doctors don't speak up about alcohol

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