The color, shape and thickness of the tongue can reveal a number of health problems. (Representational)
New Delhi:
Researchers have developed a new computer algorithm that can predict various diseases like diabetes or stroke just by analyzing the color of the human tongue with 98% accuracy.
The imaging system developed by Middle Technical University (MTU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA) in Australia can diagnose conditions such as diabetes, stroke, anemia, asthma, liver and gallbladder problems, Covid-19 and other illnesses vascular and gastrointestinal. .
“The color, shape and thickness of the tongue can reveal a range of health problems,” said Ali Al-Naji, adjunct associate professor at MTU and UniSA.
“Typically, people with diabetes have a yellow tongue; cancer patients, a purple tongue with a thick, fatty layer; and acute stroke patients present with an unusually shaped red tongue,” she added.
The discovery was achieved through a series of experiments that used 5,260 images to train machine learning algorithms to detect tongue color.
The researchers received 60 images of the tongue from two university hospitals in the Middle East, representing patients with various health conditions. The AI model matched the tongue color to the correct disease in almost every case.
The article published in Technologies describes how the system analyzes tongue color to provide real-time diagnoses, demonstrating that AI can significantly advance medical practices.
Al-Naji explained that the AI is replicating a 2,000-year-old technique from traditional Chinese medicine, where the color, shape and thickness of the tongue are used to diagnose health problems.
For example, people with diabetes often have a yellow tongue, while cancer patients have a purple tongue with a thick, fatty coating. Stroke patients often present with an unusually shaped red tongue. A white tongue may indicate anemia, severe cases of Covid-19 are associated with a deep red tongue, and an indigo or violet tongue suggests vascular, gastrointestinal problems or asthma.
The study used cameras placed 20 centimeters from a patient to capture the color of the tongue, and the imaging system predicted health conditions in real time.
UniSA co-author Professor Javaan Chahl noted that this technology could eventually be adapted for use with smartphones, making disease screening more accessible.
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