What the Tongue Reveals About Our Health

In Ayurvedic Medicine the tongue is more than just an organ of speech and taste, it is a diagnostic tool for providing information on the state of our health. The tongue is a map of our internal environment. By looking at your tongue regularly you will begin to notice how often it changes. As the start of the digestive tract, it serves as a window into how well you are digesting your food and if any toxins are accumulating. You don't have to be an expert to begin reading the tongue or to understand what it is saying; by beginning to recognize things like color, moisture, and coating you will begin to get some great clues as to what your tongue is revealing about your health.

Constitutional Tongue:

Everyone's tongue will match their constitutional type. If you are not sure of your constitution, see which description fits your tongue the best. 

Vata tongues tend to be small, thin, and dry.

Pitta tongues tend to be medium in size, tapered, reddish, and slightly dry.

Kapha tongues tend to be larger in size, round, slightly pale, and moist.

The Healthy Tongue: the perfect tongue is like a beautiful pink rose petal. It is not too red or too pale, but an even shade of pink across the entire surface of the tongue. It is not too wet or not too dry, free of cracks and any visual abnormalities such as depressions or swollen taste buds. There should be a very thin white coating with no teeth marks or redness in the margins.

Tongue Abnormalities:

Coating: a thin white or transparent coating on the tongue is normal, however, when a thicker coating appears on any area of the tongue this is what is called ama or toxins. This ama comes from undigested, absorbed, or unassimilated food, the result of a weakened digestive system. The majority of people will have some coating in the back of the tongue, this is a sign of toxins or ama in the colon. Ama can cause bad breath and a bad taste in the mouth. If the entire tongue is coated, it is a sign of systemic ama and the toxins could not only be in the entire GI tract, but also moving into other areas of the body, which may eventually cause greater concerns.

If the coating is white, it is generally related to kapha conditions, yellow to pitta, and brown to vata. Identifying whether or not you have a coating on your tongue is the best place to start reading your tongue. This will give you great insight to how well your digestive system is functioning.

Color: if the tongue is pale it may indicate some type of weakness or deficiency. In Ayurveda, it often represents anemia, or lack of nutrients such as B vitamins. A red or scarlet tongue is a sign of heat such as too much acid in the digestive system or irritated or inflamed mucus membranes along the digestive tract. A blue or purplish-blue tongue may indicate conditions such as cyanosis, a lack of oxygen in the blood.

Margins: red margins indicate heat in the periphery of the body, such as in the lymph or blood, and may result in eczema or psoriasis. Scalloping or teeth marks along the sides of the tongue are a sign of chronic poor absorption of nutrients within the intestines. 

Moisture: is the tongue dry and rough or smooth and wet or somewhere in between? A dry tongue is typical when there is prominent vata dosha, indicating dehydration or general dryness in the stomach and even throughout the tissues. A wet tongue can be due to excess kapha or mucus accumulation, sometimes as a result from a highly irritated GI tract.

Midline: the midline of the tongue represents the veritable column of the spine. A crack down the center of the tongue may indicated stress and tension held in the nervous system or along the spinal column due to injury. If the line s-shaped or zigzag it could represent scoliatic changes in the spine. Cracking all over the tongue indicates systemic vata. 

Tip: the tip of the tongue represent the thyroid gland. If the tip is sunken, round, or flat it may indicate an under-active thyroid gland, which is considered a kapha imbalance. If the tip is raised, is may indicate an overactive thyroid, which is a vata or pitta condition. A groove in the tip of the tongue may be a sign of pain in the upper spine or neck. An ulcer at the tip indicated heat in the blood or intestinal TB. 

Caring For Your Tongue 

Caring for your tongue begins by bringing awareness to the state of your digestion and overall health. Poor digestion is at the root of most health concerns, which then shows up on the surface of the tongue as abnormalities. As we bring balance and strength to our digestion we can ensure good health and a healthy looking tongue.

The best way to care for the tongue is to make a habit of a scraping the tongue each morning before brushing your teeth. Scraping your tongue removes any coating that may have accumulated throughout the night; this removes undesirable bacteria from the mouth that may lead to bad breath or other oral health concerns. Scraping your tongue stimulates and awakens the digestive system, especially when followed with a warm glass of water, and is an excellent way to improve your sense of taste.