In an groundbreaking study, researchers in Iraq and Australia have developed a computer algorithm that is capable of analyzing the color of a person’s tongue to detect medical conditions in real time. This is found to have a 98% accuracy. Interestingly, the system draws inspiration from traditional Chinese medicine, which views the tongue as a reflection of overall health. Changes in the color of tongue can point to conditions like dehydration, jaundice, Kawasaki disease, and insomnia.What Does the Color of Your Tongue Indicate?Senior study author Ali Al-Naji explained that different tongue colors are linked to specific health conditions: - A yellow tongue is often seen in people with diabetes. - A purple tongue may indicate cancer. - An unusually shaped red tongue is common in acute stroke patients. - A white tongue can signal anemia. - A deep red tongue has been observed in severe coronavirus cases. - An indigo or violet-colored tongue can suggest vascular and gastrointestinal issues or asthma.How Does It Work?Researchers trained the AI model for diseases detection using over 5,200 images of tongues. They then tested it with 60 images from two teaching hospitals in the Middle East. Patients sat about 8 inches from a laptop equipped with a webcam, which captured images of their tongues. The program successfully diagnosed medical conditions in most cases. Published in the journal Technologies, the study's co-author, Jaavan Chahl, stated that the app aims to diagnose conditions like diabetes, stroke, anemia, asthma, liver and gallbladder issues, and severe coronavirus. However, challenges remain, such as camera reflections affecting accuracy and patient reluctance to share data. What Does A Healthy Tongue Look Like? As per the study, a healthy tongue usually shows a pink color and a slender white film, and various ailments directly impact this color. For example, diabetes mellitus (DM) often leads to oral complications, resulting in a yellow coating of the tongue. In Type 2 Diabetes, the tongue may be blue with a yellow coating. A purple tongue with a thick fatty layer is a symptom of cancer, while patients with acute stroke may present with an unusually shaped red tongue. A white tongue may indicate chill syndrome or a lack of iron in the blood, while yellow signifies a condition of increased body heat, hepatic and biliary organ disease, and vascular or gastrointestinal issues, which may cause the oral organ to turn indigo or violet.Tongue Is Directly Connected To Internal Organs Human tongues possess unique characteristics and features connected to the body’s internal organs, which effectively detect illnesses and monitor their progress, the researchers emphasized. They added that to key factors that they evaluated for their AI model included the color of the tongue, shade of the coating, form of the tongue, depth of the coating, oral moisture, tongue crevices, contusions, red spots, and tooth impressions. Among these, tongue color is of the most importance. "Tongue color is one such characteristic that plays a vital function in identifying diseases and the levels of progression of the ailment. With the development of computer vision systems, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, there has been important progress in acquiring, processing, and classifying tongue images," researchers stated.