In the wake of the surgeon general’s guidance on alcohol, what advice do you give your patients about drinking?

John Mandrola, Adam Cifu and Vinay Prasad answer

Last weekend, I asked John and Adam to put together 400 words on what advice they would give a patient who asked about drinking alcohol. I joined them in this exercise.

For the sake of discussion, we imagined a 47 year old man, no medications or past medical history, married with 2 kids, who enjoys 2 generous glasses of red wine a night. He asks (John/Adam or me) “Is that healthy? Should I cut back? or Should I Drink more?” We prepared answers without sharing, and we offer those to subscribers of Sensible Medicine as a thank you for your support.

If you don’t subscribe already, I hope you consider it. Finally, if you are interested in my review of the Surgeon Generals’ report, check out this post.

-Vinay Prasad MD MPH

Here is:

John Mandrola

The first words I say when discussing alcohol in the clinic is that I am not a preacher. My advice is from the perspective of a neutral health adviser….