Researchers from Iraq and Australia claimed that they had created an Artificial Intelligence (AI) computer algorithm which can analyse tongue colour to diagnose medical conditions in real time with 98% accuracy. 

According to the study led by Ali Al-Naji, affiliated with universities in Baghdad and Australia, people with diabetes usually exhibit a yellow tongue. At the same time, people who have cancer often have purple tongues with a thick coating. People who suffer from acute strokes may have oddly shaped tongues. 

The proposed imaging system developed by the researchers can diagnose diabetes, stroke, anaemia, asthma, liver and gallbladder conditions, COVID-19, and a range of vascular and gastrointestinal issues. 

AI Model Matches Tongue Colour to Disease 

Engineering researchers from Middle Technical University (MTU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA) achieved this breakthrough in a series of experiments. They used 5,260 images to train machine learning algorithms to detect tongue colour. 

Two teaching hospitals in the Middle East supplied 60 tongue images from patients with various health conditions. The artificial intelligence (AI) model matched the tongue colour with the disease in almost all cases. 

A new paper published in Technologies outlines how the proposed system analyses tongue colour to provide on-the-spot diagnosis, confirming that AI holds the key to many medical advances. 

Senior author, MTU and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor Ali Al-Naji says AI is replicating a 2000-year-old practice widely used in traditional Chinese medicine – examining the tongue for signs of disease. 

“The tongue’s colour, shape and thickness can reveal a litany of health conditions,” he says. 

“Typically, people with diabetes have a yellow tongue; cancer patients with a purple tongue with a thick, greasy coating; and acute stroke patients present with an unusually shaped red tongue. 

“A white tongue can indicate anaemia; people with severe cases of COVID-19 are likely to have a deep red tongue; and an indigo or violet coloured tongue indicates vascular and gastrointestinal issues or asthma.” 

Snap a Photo, Diagnose a Disease 

In the study, cameras placed 20 centimetres from a patient captured their tongue colour, and the imaging system predicted their health condition in real-time. 

Co-author UniSA Professor Javaan Chahl says that smartphones will eventually be used to diagnose disease in this way. 

“These results confirm that computerised tongue analysis is a secure, efficient, user-friendly and affordable method for disease screening that backs up modern methods with a centuries-old practice,” Prof Chahl says. 

Source: University of South Australia