Tongue Diagnosis By Gillian McKeith
Have you ever thought you could use your tongue to find out how healthy you are? Besides pushing food around in your mouth and helping you speak, your tongue is an important indicator of the health of your digestive system and organs.
It is one of my favourite ways to check out what's going on inside the bodies of my patients.
I believe that the tongue provides a window to the inner workings of the body. For thousands of years, tongue diagnosis has played an indispensable role in the practice of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
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TCM practitioners rely on tongue diagnosis to differentiate one syndrome from another, and use variations in the tongue's colour, texture, shape and coating to evaluate a patient's condition.
When I look at the tongue, I am checking out colour of the tongue body, its size and shape, the colour and thickness of its coating or fur, locations of cuts, lines or raised edges and moistness or dryness of the tongue body and fur. These signs reveal not only overall states of health but correlate to specific organ functions and disharmonies, especially in the digestive system.
In the last few decades tongue diagnosis has also begun to play a role in the diagnosis of some Western-trained physicians. The colour of the tongue, for instance, could indicate nutritional deficiencies, or conditions ranging from anaemia to bacteria infections. An enlarged or inflamed tongue, meanwhile, could be a sign of infection elsewhere in the body. Several studies show a correlation between the characteristics of the tongue and health conditions such as fever, dehydration and assorted internal diseases.
For example, one intriguing paper, published in the Chinese-language Journal of Oncology in 1987, examined the tongues of more than 12,000 patients and found "significant changes" in colour, coating and texture in the tongues of cancerous patients compared to those without cancer. And currently researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre are taking a scientific approach to the usefulness of tongue diagnosis. In what is believed to be the first study of its kind in the United States, the investigators have begun taking computerized images of patients' tongues to see if an examination can provide an early indication of colon cancer.
Tongue diagnosis gives providers an inexpensive, noninvasive alternative to a traditional colonoscopy to assess digestive health - all you need do is to stick your tongue out - so it's not surprising that it is growing in popularity in the West.
Tongue Diagnosis
Tongue diagnosis can be complicated but there are a few easy to look for signs that may give you an indication of what's going on. However it is best to see a practitioner who specialises in tongue diagnosis.
If you stick your tongue out at yourself in the mirror, you can actually see the health of your organs. A normal tongue should be smooth, supple and slightly moist and fit perfectly in your mouth. It should look nice and pink with no bumps or shapes or spots and have a thin transparent white coat.
Each major organ system can be seen on the tongue. The heart is represented at the tip of the tongue; just behind that is the lung area. The broad middle section displays the stomach and spleen, kidneys and bladder are in the back, and liver is on the left side with gallbladder on the right side.
The most common tongue indicators are cracks, ravines and coatings (ie: yellow, white, thick, furry) lines, swellings, patches of red and cuts.
Crack down the middle of the tongue
This could mean you have a weak stomach and poor digestion. You'll probably also be suffering from fatigue as a result of not getting all your nutrients.
Solutions:
- Try eating more easily digested foods such as soups and stews.
- Eat your food slowly and chew mindfully.
- Avoid drinks at mealtimes.
- Drink enough water. Not enough fluid is a primary cause of constipation.
- Eat plenty of dietary fibre.
- Enzyme supplements are believed to support the body's own digestive enzymes to aid digestion and help with other disorders stemming from poor digestion.
- Get some good gut bacterial. Supplements containing acidophilus and bifidobacteria can be found in health food stores.
- Food combine for improved digestion.
- Eat millet and quinoa grains.
Sore Tongue
A sure sign of nutrient deficiency - typically, vitamin B6, B12, iron and niacin.
Solutions:
- Take mineral and vitamin supplements which are high in these nutrients.
- Start eating foods that are packed with the B's: brown rice, avocadoes and veggies.
- Get your iron levels checked by a nutritionist.
Teeth marks around side of tongue
A clear sign of nutrient deficiency. You may also have a spleen deficiency. This would mean that assimilation of nutrients may not be optimal. Digestion is weak and you can become easily low in important nutrients.
Solutions:
- Eat foods high in chlorophyll which nourish the spleen, such as leafy greens, algae, kale and chard
- Other foods that nourish the spleen include legumes, barley, millet, oats, carrots, parsley, celery, chicken, pumpkin, fennel, root vegetables, fish, sweet potatoes and yams.
- The herb Astragalus can be helpful here.
Burning tongue
You probably have a stomach upset.
Solution:
- Try taking a teaspoon of Swedish bitters every day it will improve your gastric stomach secretion. A teaspoon of apple cedar before each meal will also help. Drink two cups of dandelion tea twice a day.
Swollen tongue or thick white coating
Too much mucus in your body. Also a sign that you lack beneficial bacteria or may have an elevation of yeast.
Solution:
- Cut down on dairy products which are mucous forming.
- Try including alfalfa, grass and wild blue green algae in your diet.
- Up your intake of green leafy vegetables.
- Get some good gut bacterial. Supplements containing acidophilus and bifidobacteria can be found in health food stores.
- Drink pau d arco tea available for health food stores. It's a great way to lower the yeasts in your body.
- If the coating on your tongue is yellow this could indicate a lack of healthy bacteria in your body and it is possible your bowels are not working as well as they should do. Try all the tips above and also take it easy - you could be doing too much.
Horizontal cracks, small cracks
Cracking on the tongue is often a sign of malabsorption - particularly B vitamins.
Solution:
- Add vitamin B complex (50mg a day) to your diet
- Drink peppermint tea to calm the stomach and nettle tea to fortify the body with B vitamins. Try eating grains such as brown rice and quinoa. I make a fantastic quinoa porridge with rice milk, vanilla and cinnamon. You can find this recipe and others in my new book Dr Gillian McKeith's Ultimate Health Plan
- 2 tablespoons of aloe vera before meals will also help.
- Take a digestive enzyme tablet with meals
- Eat more green leafy vegetables and sprouted seeds - they are high in digestive enzymes and easy to absorb.
Red tip
Your heart is quite literally sore. A red tip on the tongue could indicate emotional upset or emotional stress rather than problems with your heart. Emotional upset disturbs the energy balance of the body. Find ways to cope with stress and if you feel you can't cope alone talk things through with loved ones or friends, or if you prefer a counsellor.
I had a visit from a young girl called Clara. Her tongue exhibited an extremely red tip. I asked her if there was anything upsetting her or had she gone through any emotional stress that was over the norm. She indignantly snapped back : "NO!" Then about 2 minutes later, she burst into tears. It turned out that she had just broken up with her boyfriend of 7 years. The emotional stress was apparent, in her tongue.
Tongue Diagnosis continued
If you have never really gotten acquainted with your tongue before, why not observe it for a few days to recognize what is normal for you. Look at the colour, shape, and coating. Some things are immediately obvious. A large tongue with teeth marks on the sides, for instance, means that your body is holding excess moisture. That can mean that you've been eating too much ice cream, but it can also mean that you have an infection somewhere. If the tip of your tongue is very red, it may explain why you can't sleep at night - a balanced heart is required for good sleep - or why you have that dry cough, a result of damage to the lung meridian.
Examples of Tongue Diagnosis
I can tell if you are a smoker just by looking at your tongue. When filming my TV show, I looked at the tongue of a 14 year old girl who was part of the show. I could tell she was a smoker but she firmly denied it.
Her Mum got really cross with me that I would even suggest such a thing. I thought to myself, either she is lying or I am losing my touch. It bothered me all the way home. Two days later, I got a phone call from the Mum. I thought that she was calling to tell me off. Instead, she announced to me that she had just received a letter from the headmaster of the school that her daughter had been caught smoking for the second time. Mum had called to thank me and apologise.
Not all tongue irregularities are indications of disharmony, however. Food and drugs may change the coating or colour of the body of the tongue. For example, coffee yellows the coating and liquorice turns the tongue black. Furthermore, some people have minor, unchanging cracks on their tongue, which are considered normal. Others are born with what is called a geographic tongue, which is covered with severe cracks and covered with hills and valleys. This is often considered normal by some practitioners. But you may inherit weaknesses from your parents.
The way a tongue appears is not an absolute indicator of the location of the disharmony, but when taken as part of an overall pattern that includes a complete evaluation, it offers strong clues to the state of your health.
Another male participant on my TV Show You Are What You Eat, had all kinds of things going on his tongue: Deep midline crack, ravines, dots and cuts in places that would suggest to me that he was a real wind and gas producer, smelly gas. His digestion was very poor indeed. He kept denying it until his wife walked into the room and demanded that he tell the truth.
Flatulence was his biggest problem, confirmed by his wife! Your tongue is a wonderful organ. Without it, you wouldn't know the difference between a banana smoothie and a hairball. Use the information your tongue offers to take control of your health. Rather than worry that you have a physical malfunction every time you find something unusual, look at it as an opportunity to balance your body and improve your digestion and your health.
