The Role Of Diet And Nutrition In Maintaining Healthy Hearing

Hearing health is important, and you need to be looking after yours. One of the things that people don’t seem to realize is that your diet has a huge role to play with it comes to maintaining your hearing health. That’s right, the foods that you eat will directly impact the health of your ears, as everything is connected in your body. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the things that you need to know about diet and nutrition when it comes to maintaining healthy hearing, so keep reading if you would like to find out more about this topic.

Zinc

Zinc is one of the nutrients found in food and is effective when it comes to boosting the body’s immune system. As well as this, zinc has been shown to be effective when it comes to healing wounds and preventing ear infections due to its healing quality. Studies have also shown that a deficiency in zinc has been related to age-related hearing loss. As such, it’s important that you are looking at foods that are rich in this nutrient such as pork, peanuts, lentils and dark chocolate.

Omega-3

You have probably heard of omega-3 before and know that your body needs these nutrients for a number of reasons. This is largely found in fish products, and these people have been found to have a 42% lower chance of age-related hearing loss. This happens as the omega-3 is able to help strengthen the blood vessels in the ear’s sensory system.

It is also important to note that omega-3 have anti-inflammatory properties, helping to keep the balance in the body. If you want to include more omega-3 in your diet, then you need to try and eat more foods like tuna, salmon, olive oil, chia seeds and walnuts.

Folate

Low levels of folate have been found to cause restricted blood flow to the cochlea. This is the part of the inner ear that converts the sound energy, which then gets sent to the brain so that we can hear what is going on around us. Circulation plays a massive role in hearing health, and as such without the right amount of folate, you are at risk of your hearing deteriorating.

A study showed that those who have a folate deficiency were at 35% higher risk of hearing loss in people over the age of 50, so it’s important to get that folate into your diet to keep your hearing health in the best possible condition. The good news is that folate is already in a lot of foods including leafy greens, broccoli and eggs.

Vitamin D and B12

You should always do your best to ensure that you are not deficient in any vitamins or minerals to aid your health. Vitamin D is essential to your health, though some of us struggle to get it from foods. It might be worth looking into taking supplements here to ensure that you are getting enough, as it can help strengthen the tiny bones in your ear, helping to prevent hearing loss. You can even go out in the sun if you want to get some more vitamin D, or eat more food such as yogurt, cheese, milk and egg yolks.

Vitamin B12 deficiency has been linked to hearing loss in the past, as it works similar to the way that folic acid does. It helps to lower your homocysteine levels and keeps your blood cells healthy. You want to get as much of this into your diet as you can, so try adding more eggs, dairy and salmon to your diet.

As you can see, diet and nutrition play a massively important role when it comes to maintaining your hearing health. Each thing on this list is going to contribute effectively to helping your hearing stay in the best possible condition. It’s important to add here that there are other important factors to consider when it comes to your hearing health, but make sure that you are getting what you need from your diet first.

If you would like to find out more about the role of diet and nutrition in maintaining healthy hearing, then you can get in touch with Atlantic Audiology at (401) 262-0170 today. Or, if you want to book yourself a hearing test, or get any other information about your hearing health, then get in touch! We look forward to hearing from you soon.

This article is for informational purposes only. Refer to your physician when discussing supplements and your overall health