You’re feeling hungry so you look in your fridge for a little bite to eat. How about a salty treat… maybe some crackers? Oooo, potato chips! There’s a leftover piece of cheesecake that would be delicious.
Actually, maybe you should just eat a banana. A banana is a healthier choice obviously.
Everything is interrelated in the human body. So maybe it’s not a big surprise that your diet can impact your ears. For example, high sodium intake can raise blood pressure and could make tinnitus symptoms more pronounced. Research is adding weight to this notion, indicating that your diet could have a strong impact on the manifestation of tinnitus symptoms.
Tinnitus and your diet
The official publication of the American Auditory Society, called Ear and Hearing, published a study that looked at the diets of a wide variety of individuals. Your risk of specific inner ear conditions, including tinnitus, increases or diminishes based on what you eat. And your risk of getting tinnitus increases, particularly when your diet is lacking vitamin B12.
There were other nutrients besides B12 that were connected with tinnitus symptoms. Eating too much calcium, iron, or fat could raise your chances of getting tinnitus as well.
That isn’t all. The researchers also observed that dietary patterns may also bring about tinnitus symptoms. For example, your risk of developing tinnitus will be decreased by a diet high in protein. It also seemed that diets low in fat and high in fruits and veggies had a beneficial impact on your hearing.
So should you make a change to your diet?
You would have to have a seriously deficient diet in order for that to be the cause, so modifying your diet alone likely won’t have a substantial impact. Your hearing is far more likely to be affected by other factors, like exposure to loud noise. But your overall health depends on a healthy diet.
This research has uncovered some practical and meaningful insights:
- Quantities vary: Certainly, if you want to keep your ears healthy you need a certain amount of B12 in your diet. Going below that could increase your vulnerability to tinnitus. But your ears won’t necessarily be healthy simply because you get enough B12. Always speak with your doctor about any supplements you take because getting too little or too much of these nutrients can be bad for you.
- Get your hearing tested professionally: Come in and get your hearing tested if you’re experiencing hearing loss or tinnitus. We can help you determine (and correctly treat) any hearing loss.
- Nutrients are essential: Your diet is going to have an effect on your hearing health. It certainly seems as if an overall healthy diet will be good for your ears. But beyond that, we can easily see how malnutrition could cause problems like tinnitus. And with people who are lacking the vital vitamins, minerals, and nutrients they need, this is especially true.
- Safeguarding your ears takes many approaches: According to this research, eating a good diet can help reduce your vulnerability to tinnitus and other inner ear ailments. That doesn’t mean you’re not still at risk. It simply gives you better odds of avoiding ear conditions. You’ll need a more comprehensive approach if you really want to be protected from the risk of tinnitus. This may mean using earmuffs or earplugs to make sure volume levels remain safe.
Real life doesn’t always mirror the research
And, lastly, it’s important to note that, while this research is impressive and fascinating, it’s not the last word on the topic. In order to verify and sharpen the scope of these conclusions, more research will still have to be carried out. We’re not sure, for example, how much of this connection is causal or correlational.
So we’re not implying that tinnitus can be eliminated by a B12 shot alone. Keeping that ringing in your ears from appearing in the first place will probably mean taking a multi-faceted approach. One of those facets can definitely be diet. But it’s essential that you take steps to protect your hearing and don’t forget about proven strategies.
We can help, so if you’re experiencing hearing issues, call us.
References
https://journals.lww.com/ear-hearing/Fulltext/2020/03000/Relationship_Between_Diet,_Tinnitus,_and_Hearing.8.aspx