A Healthy Diet Can Lower the Risk of Hearing Loss
Healthy hearing is connected to every aspect of your life. The days of believing that hearing loss only affects your ears are over. Untreated hearing loss has been associated with a greater risk of depression, dementia, heart attack and falls. There are an estimated 48 million Americans with hearing loss, including two-thirds of adults older than 70, but less than 20 percent use hearing aids. And studies show that people tend to wait on average of seven years from the time they start noticing hearing loss to the time they seek help. When you hear healthy everything in your life, from your relationships, your work, your blood pressure and your heart are affected. Would you believe it that now scientists are discovering that healthy hearing is also connected to your diet and how well you choose to nourish your self on a daily basis.
Eating a healthy diet and hearing loss
Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital discovered that eating a healthy diet may reduce the risk of hearing loss. Researchers examined hearing sensitivities in patients over three years and discovered that women whose dietary patterns that more resembled commonly recommended healthful dietary patterns, such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and the Mediterranean, Diet had a decreased risk of in hearing sensitivity decline.
Sharon Curhan, MD, a physician and epidemiologist in the Brigham’s Channing Division of Network Medicine stated. “A common perception is that hearing loss is an inevitable part of the aging process. However, our research focuses on identifying potentially modifiable risk factors — that is, things that we can change in our diet and lifestyle to prevent hearing loss or delay its progression,” “The benefits of adherence to healthful dietary patterns have been associated with numerous positive health outcomes and eating a healthy diet may also help reduce the risk of hearing loss.”
Findings over the years
Compiling 22 years of dietary patterns, collected every four years starting in 1991, the researchers investigated patient’s long-term diet patterns. The team discovered that the odds of a decline in mid-range hearing frequency was approximately 30 percent lower in individuals whose diets most resembled healthy eating patterns, compared with individuals whose diets least resembled a healthful eating patterns. The patients with diets that most resembled currently recommended dietary patterns, such as the DASH diet or the Mediterranean diet had less much of a risk of losing their hearing. These dietary patterns have been connected to the reduction of a number of chronic health concerns, including lower risk of hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and healthy aging.
What to eat
To preserve hearing it is suggested to keep to a Mediterranean diet, which is a way of eating based on the traditional cuisine of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. While there is no single definition of the Mediterranean diet, it is typically high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nut and seeds, and olive oil. Another popular recommended diet is the DASH diet, emphasizing vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy foods — and moderate amounts of whole grains, fish, poultry and nuts. The DASH diet plan was developed to lower blood pressure without the use of medication. Research has shown that DASH can lower blood pressure when you adhere to sodium intake of 3300 mg per day!
Studies have noted that higher intake of certain foods, squash, carrots, oranges and other fruits and vegetables, folate often found in legumes, leafy greens rich in carotenoids beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin, and seafood rich in long-chain omega-3 fatty acids are connected with lower risk of self-reported hearing loss.
Eat healthy today to hear better tomorrow!
It’s amazing to realize that what you choose to put in your body today can dictate so much of what you can expect for your health in the future. If you believe you are dealing with a hearing loss it’s still not too late to start eating healthier and get your hearing back on track. Contact us at Fit Hearing Audiology Network to set up an appointment for a hearing test today. We can help you find the best course of action to treat your hearing and help you keep up with a healthy lifestyle.
