Your tongue can reveal health secrets

May 31, 2012

UNITED STATES – A new computer software that analyses the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in your body by scanning one’s tongue has been developed. Invented by a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, the software is said to bridge eastern and western medicine because it classifies the patient’s zheng which serves as a warning to go see a doctor.

The pre-screening tool, with the help of preventive medicine can help people detect any early signs of sickness. To date the team is planning to create an application for smartphones that will allow anyone to take a photo of their tongue and learn the status of their zheng.

The software analyzes images based on the tongue’s color and coating to distinguish between tongues showing signs of “hot” or “cold” zheng. Shades of red and yellow are associated with hot zheng, whereas a white coating on the tongue is a sign of cold zheng.

For example, a person with cold zheng may feel chills and coolness in the limbs and show a pale flushing of face. Their voice may have a high pitch. Other symptoms of cold sheng are clear urine and loose stool. They also may prefer hot foods and drinks and desire warm environments.

In Chinese traditional medicine both hot and cold zheng can be symptoms of gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach lining frequently caused by bacterial infection.

For the study, 263 gastritis patients and 48 healthy volunteers had their tongues analyzed. The gastritis patients were classified by whether they showed infection by a certain bacteria, known as Helicobacter pylori, as well as the intensity of their gastritis symptoms.

In addition, most of the gastritis patients had been previously classified with either hot or cold zheng. This allowed the researchers to verify the accuracy of the software’s analysis.