by Phyllis Logie

Created on: June 02, 2010   Last Updated: August 05, 2010

The human tongue is a muscular organ roughly four inches long, which is attached to the floor of the mouth. It is supplied by both the nervous and circulatory systems and it is constantly bathed with saliva containing electrolytes, enzymes and mucus.  This makes it a very sensitive organ which acts as a guidepost to changes in our health and reflects how we feel physically.

It is part of the gastro-intestinal tract and one of its principle functions is to aid chewing and with the formation of food boluses in readiness for swallowing. It is important in the formulation of the spoken word and an interesting claim is that pound for pound, it is the strongest muscle in the human body.

The tongue is covered with small projections called papillae, which gives it a slightly rough surface.  Scattered over its entire surface are 9000 tiny taste sensors able to distinguish between sweet, salt, sour and bitter. It is the external representation of the intestines which give great insight into how the internal working of the body is responding to the outside world.

It has been described as the window on our health through which many illnesses can be detected by the physician when he looks at the tongue.  When the physician asks us to open our mouths and stick out our tongues, he is trying to uncover clues to what ails us. He looks at texture, colour, the degree of moisture or dryness, also the shape and size of the tongue, in an effort to assist his diagnosis.  It can expose the presence of cancer in the body, gall-stones and disorders of the spleen, kidneys and stomach.

A thick coating could be an indication of bacterial over-growth such as thrush, otherwise known as Candida, or an inflammatory disease, dehydration or a fungal infection. Nutritional deficiencies such as Iron, vitamin B12 and Vitamin B3 can also be detected.  Further, a pale tongue can be an indication of the presence of lung and colon problems.

Colour is important. A healthy tongue is pale pink to light red in colour, if it is too red this is taken as an indication of hyper-sensitivity in certain parts of the body.  Purple indicates pain, blockage, or congestion, whilst a yellowish coating can be a sign of the presence of infection or inflammation in the body. Whilst the appearance of a dark tongue might be unpleasant to look at, this can simply be a reflection of the person's current life-style. What we eat, drinking or perhaps the taking of antibiotics can reflect in the discolour the tongue.

The practice of examining the tongue has been used for centuries by traditional Chinese physicians to diagnose and successfully treat many illnesses. They believed that by observing the tongue, they can find out a great deal about the patient’s current state of health. 

Quite apart from giving clear indications about the health of the body as whole, the tongue itself can be subject to diseases in its own right,  such as cancer which is prevalent amongst habitually and heavy smokers and drinkers. Ten thousand Americans are diagnosed annually with tongue cancer and like all other cancers, if caught in time it is treatable and often with a good long term prognosis. With this in mind, it is good practice to self-examine the tongue at regular intervals, to ensure that there are no visible signs of abnormalities present and where they appear, medical attention should be sought at the earliest possible opportunity.

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