You go into the kitchen and you look for a snack. Do you want something salty… maybe some crackers? Chips sound good! There’s a leftover piece of cheesecake that would be yummy.
Actually, maybe you should just have a banana. A banana is a healthier choice after all.
When it comes to the human body, everything is connected. So maybe it’s not a big surprise that what you eat can impact your ears. If you eat a diet high in sodium, for example, it can raise your blood pressure and that can escalate your tinnitus symptoms. Research is adding weight to this idea, indicating that what you eat could have a direct impact on the manifestation of tinnitus symptoms.
Your diet and tinnitus
The official journal of the American Auditory Society, called Ear and Hearing, published a study that looked at the diets of a wide variety of individuals. The data shows that your diet could increase or diminish your vulnerability to some inner ear disorders, tinnitus among them. And your chance of getting tinnitus increases, particularly when your diet is lacking vitamin B12.
Vitamin B12 wasn’t the only nutrient that was associated with tinnitus symptoms. Eating too much calcium, iron, or fat could raise your risk of developing tinnitus too.
That’s not all. The researchers also observed that dietary patterns could also cause tinnitus symptoms. Particularly, diets high in protein appeared to decrease the likelihood of developing tinnitus. Not surprisingly, low-fat diets that were high in fruits, vegetables, and meats also seemed fairly good for your ears.
Does this suggest you need to change your diet?
You would need to have an extremely deficient diet in order for that to be the cause, so changing your diet alone probably won’t have a significant effect. Other problems, like exposure to loud noise, are far more likely to impact your hearing. But your overall health depends on a healthy diet.
This research has revealed some practical and meaningful insights:
- Quantities vary: Certainly, if you want to keep your hearing healthy you need a certain amount of B12 in your diet. You will be more vulnerable to tinnitus if you go below this level. But getting more vitamin B12 isn’t necessarily going to make your ears healthier. Getting too little or too much of these elements could be detrimental to your hearing, so always speak to your doctor about any supplements you take.
- Nutrients are essential: Your overall hearing health will be impacted by what you eat. It sure seems like an overall healthy diet will be good for your ears. But more than that, we can definitely see how malnutrition could lead to problems like tinnitus. And with people who are lacking the vital vitamins, minerals, and nutrients they need, this is particularly true.
- Always get your hearing checked by a professional: If you’re suffering from hearing loss or tinnitus, get your hearing tested. We can help you figure out what type and level of hearing loss you’re dealing with and how to best manage it.
- Safeguarding your ears takes many strategies: The danger of tinnitus and other inner ear disorders can be lowered by eating a healthy diet, according to this study. That doesn’t mean you’re not still at risk. It simply gives you better odds of preventing ear conditions. So if you want to lower the risk of tinnitus even further, you’ll have to take an inclusive approach to protect your ears. This might mean using earmuffs or earplugs to make sure noise levels stay safe.
Real life doesn’t always mirror the research
While this is exciting research, it’s important to mention that there’s more to be said on the subject. More research must be conducted on this subject to validate these findings, or to refine them, or challenge them. We’re not sure, for instance, how much of this connection is causal or correlational.
So we’re not implying that tinnitus can be stopped by a B12 shot alone. Keeping that ringing in your ears from surfacing from the start could mean taking a multi-faceted approach. One of those facets can definitely be diet. But it’s crucial to take steps to protect your hearing and don’t forget about established strategies.
If you’re experiencing tinnitus, contact us. We can help.
References
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tinnitus/symptoms-causes
https://journals.lww.com/ear-hearing/Fulltext/2020/03000/Relationship_Between_Diet,_Tinnitus,_and_Hearing.8.aspx
