A healthy tongue is pink in color. It has a light layer of white coating that does not block the base color of the tongue. While a change in tongue color may indicate a change in health conditions, thickening of the coating, or the opposite, disappearing of the coating, also indicate that there is imbalance happening within the body. Whether it mild or severe depends on each specific situation.
Tongue coating protects your tongue from stimulating substances, so that you can taste the various flavors of food and drinks, without being “burnt” by them. Chinese medicine believes that tongue coating is like grass grown from the ground (Earth and soil signify the Stomach organ system). It reflects the condition of one’s Stomach Qi (fundamental life force).
This article focuses on analyzing the disappearance of the tongue coating. If you notice that spicy, sour, hot or cold substances hurt your tongue more than a normal level, it’s time to check what’s going on inside the body. Afterall, the tongue is the only organ that can be examined directly by observation. It reflects the conditions of the internal organ systems.
If you look at your tongue in a mirror, and you notice that it lacks a layer of coating (normally thin white, but can become thickened, or yellowish, grayish, brownish in people with illnesses), or the coating looks patchy as if part of it is peeled off.
There are several causes of peeled tongue coating. 1. Obstruction in body fluid metabolism (can lead to problems in multiple biomedical systems); 2. Vitamin B (B2, B3, B12, etc.) deficiency induced macrocytic anemia; 3. Iron deficiency anemia (microcytic anemia); 4. Severe hypoproteinemia (often presented in cirrhosis); 4. Chronic inflammations (heat pathogens in the nutritive and/or Blood layer); 5. Immune system imbalances (autoimmune disorders, chronic/recurring allergies and infections, cancers & tumors).
If you notice that your tongue looks “dry,” or “hairy,” which means the granules of papillae can be observed clearly, this may mean that your fluid metabolism is obstructed, or that you have chronic inflammations somewhere that “burns away” the healthy body fluids.
If the tongue looks “watery” or too moist, as if soaked in water, it could also mean that there is obstruction in your fluid metabolism, or there may be “cold pathogens” affecting your health conditions (compromised immunity).
The base color and shape of the tongue, your pulse quality, and other physical indicators will further confirm the nature of the problem.
Chronic inflammations and compromised immunity are the main causes of severe disorders such as autoimmune disorders and cancers. Peeled tongue coating does not always mean “Yin deficiency” (a lack of healthy, circulating body fluids), often than not there are other underlying conditions that need to be addressed.
Do not just endure it when your tongue hurts during eating or drinking. Your body is trying to get your attention via pain that something wrong is going on.