For over 5,000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has claimed to be able to predict the state of your inner health (or ‘zheng’) simply by looking at your tongue.
The traditional method bases its results on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body.
However, in the modern world (and with technology on our side) gadget geeks have come up with a contemporary way to check our health using the power of the tongue… by creating a smartphone app that does it all for us.
Combining ancient practices with modern medicine and advanced mobile technology researchers from the University of Missouri are developing computer software that enables users to take a snap of their tongue and have it analysed for any health issues.
“Knowing your zheng classification can serve as a pre-screening tool and help with preventive medicine,” said Dong Xu, the co-author of the latest study, reports Medical Daily.
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The phone app aims to analyse the tongue’s colour, where it gets placed into a ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ category, which then pinpoints any possible underlying health conditions.
“Hot and cold zheng doesn’t refer directly to body temperature. Rather, it refers to a suite of symptoms associated with the state of the body as a whole," adds Xu.
So far, researchers have tested the app on 263 gastritis patients and 48 healthy people.
"As we continue to work on the software we hope to improve its ability. Eventually everyone will be able to use this tool at home using webcams or smartphone applications. That will allow them to monitor their zheng and get an early warning about possible ailments," adds co-author of the study, Ye Duan.
Worried about the state of your tongue? Discover what your tongue could reveal about your health...
