A new way of measuring the body’s “health” is being touted as the next “big thing.” It’s still not in use yet. But they tell us it’s coming soon to your home. Instead of taking your body’s temperature, the doctor or pretend-doctor “takes your breath away”— and then analyzes it. You exhale deeply into a device that measures every component of your breath, and that one breath reveals the health of your whole body. “The breath is a window into the blood,” says Joachim D. Pleill. Pretty soon we’ll be able to smell how people are doing by their breath.

Breath-mints anyone?

Breath is more than 99% water, but roughly 3000 other compounds have been detected in human breath. An average sample contains at least 200 other components, including bits of DNA, proteins, bacteria and fats floating in th…