You go into the kitchen and you find a bite to eat. Will it be something salty… what about crackers? Chips sound good! There’s a leftover piece of cheesecake that would be yummy.

Maybe you should just opt for a banana on second thought. A banana is a healthier choice obviously.

Everything is interrelated in the human body. So the fact that what you eat can affect your ears shouldn’t come as a surprise. For instance, high sodium intake can increase blood pressure and could make tinnitus symptoms more pronounced. Current research is suggesting that diet can have a strong influence on the development of tinnitus.

Your diet and tinnitus

The official publication of the American Auditory Society, called Ear and Hearing, published research that looked at the diets of a wide variety of individuals. The data indicates that your diet might increase or diminish your susceptibility to certain inner ear disorders, tinnitus among them. And your chance of getting tinnitus increases, especially when your diet is lacking vitamin B12.

Vitamin B12 wasn’t the only nutrient that was connected with tinnitus symptoms. Consuming too much calcium, iron, or fat could raise your risk of getting tinnitus too.

That isn’t all. This research also indicated that tinnitus symptoms can also be impacted by dietary patterns. In particular, diets high in protein seemed to reduce the risk of developing tinnitus. It also appeared that diets low in fat and high in fruits and veggies had a positive impact on your hearing.

So should you make a change to your diet?

You would need to have a seriously deficient diet in order for that to be the cause, so changing your diet alone probably won’t have a substantial impact. Other problems, like exposure to loud sound, are much more likely to impact your hearing. But your overall health depends on a healthy diet.

This research has uncovered some practical and meaningful insights:

• Always get your hearing checked by a professional: If you’re dealing with hearing loss or tinnitus, get your hearing tested. We can help you figure out (and correctly address) any hearing loss.
• Safeguarding your ears takes many strategies: The danger of tinnitus and other inner ear conditions can be lowered by eating a healthy diet, according to this study. But that doesn’t mean the entire risk has gone away. It simply gives you better odds of avoiding ear conditions. You’ll need a more extensive approach if you really want to be protected from the risk of tinnitus. This will often mean protecting your hearing from loud noise by using earplugs or earmuffs
• Nutrients are essential: Your total hearing health will be effected by what you eat. Naturally, your hearing will be benefited by a healthy diet. So it isn’t hard to see how issues such as tinnitus can be a result of poor nutrition. And with people who are lacking the essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients they need, this is particularly true.
• Quantities vary: Sure, you need a certain amount of vitamin B12 (for example) to keep your ears healthy. You will be more vulnerable to tinnitus if you get less than this. But your ears won’t necessarily be healthy just because you get enough B12. Always speak with your doctor about any supplements you take because getting too little or too much of these elements can be bad for you.

Real life doesn’t always mirror the research

While this is exciting research, it’s significant to mention that there’s more to be said on the matter. More research must be carried out on this topic to verify these findings, or to improve them, or dispute them. We’re not sure, for instance, how much of this relationship is causal or correlational.

So we’re far from claiming that a vitamin B12 shot will stop tinnitus. Keeping that ringing in your ears from appearing in the first place may 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 methods.

If you’re suffering from tinnitus, contact us. We can help.

Call Today to Set Up an Appointment

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