All too often, doctors say they only find out about a patient's heavy drinking when it's too late. But there's a new test designed to help doctors recognize -- and treat -- drinkers before the problem gets out of control.

A.J. Mitchell now sips coffee while he works. Nearly three decades ago, it would have been booze.

"You have to use a lot of breath mints," he recalled, describing how he hid his problem from co-workers. "The last five, six years of my drinking were just horrendous. Day, night as much as I could get into me.

Mitchell, who has been sober for 27 years, was able to hide his drinking at work and from his doctor.

"'Doc, my nerves; I'm a wreck, I've just got these jitters and the shakes, I'm a nervous wreck,' and he prescribed Valium," recalled Mitchell of his doctors visits.

But now that doctor could use the new Early Detection of Alcohol Consumption test, which can detect heavy drinking within the past four to six weeks, even if the patient is currently sober.

Using a patient's blood sample, doctors measure the functioning of the patient's organs. The test creates a pattern which can be compared with a database holding sample patterns for heavy and light drinkers. The database defines heavy drinkers as men who consume five or more drinks a day, and women who have four or more drinks a day.

The diagnostic and treatment benefits, say health professionals, could be tremendous.

"Heavy drinking is a risk factor for many different conditions," said psychologist James Harasymiw. Harasymiw, the director of Alcohol Detection Services in Big Bend, Wisconsin, adds it gives doctors a chance to intervene before it's too late.

"We wait until the person's life falls apart or something terrible happens, and then we treat them," he said.

The test is also being used by some counties and substance abuse treatment centers to monitor repeat drunk drivers.

Alcohol-related problems kills an estimated 100,000 Americans annually, including nearly 17,000 people in drunk-driving crashes.