5 diseases you can detect from your breath

Identifying health conditions through breathing has a long history, and the "look, listen, ask, and feel" method in traditional Chinese medicine theory includes this diagnostic method. However, Western medicine has only a short history of diagnosing diseases in this way. The Popular Health Network published an article summarizing 5 diseases that can be identified by breathing status.

1. Lung cancer

Some animals can smell specific diseases, and based on this principle, researchers have developed "electronic nose" technology that can separate volatile organic compounds in breath samples. Using this technology, researchers have been able to identify lung cancer patients relatively accurately, with an accuracy of about 90%.

2. Heart failure

The scientists initially wanted to test the respiratory status of patients with kidney failure and used patients with heart failure as a control group. But it didn't take long for researchers to realize that heart failure patients also have their own unique "breathing signature." The 2012 study revolutionized the way the medical community diagnosed heart disease because it used a non-invasive alternative test method as a diagnostic and treatment method with a high diagnostic accuracy rate.

3. Obesity

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, found that breath can indicate a person's risk of obesity: After analyzing the breath odor of 792 people, it was found that people with higher levels of methane and hydrogen in their breath had a higher body mass index and a higher proportion of fat in their body.

4. Diabetes

Fruity breath or breath that smells like nail polish can mean that a diabetic patient has ketoacidosis. This life-threatening condition occurs when the body cannot use sugar as a source of energy because diabetics have insufficient or no insulin in their bodies and can only use fat as "fuel". When fat breaks down, a waste product called ketones builds up in the body, emitting a distinctive odor through the respiratory system.

5. Kidney failure

An ammonia-like smell in your breath (similar to urine or fish) may mean that you have chronic renal failure. The kidneys' job is to remove waste from the blood. When they fail, they can no longer remove toxins from the blood. These waste products accumulate in the body, and one way they are released is through the respiratory system, causing a bad odor from the patient's mouth.