When it Comes to Hearing, Diet May Trump Noise Exposure

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Researchers have found a link between healthy eating and hearing.

The study, done at the University of Florida, looked at eating habits of participants in a

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey because the leading author noticed a relationship between high scores on the healthy eating index and good hearing.

The results have been published in the International Journal of Audiology.

Data from 2,366 people on the survey was examined. Those people also had a four-part hearing test along with their survey questions.

What researchers found was people who ate a diet with a good balance of vegetables, fruit and fiber, but had higher noise exposure results, were comparable to the hearing of people with lower noise exposure who ate poorer diets.

The researchers concluded that hearing health is linked to general health, because the auditory system is dependent on cardiovascular, neural and metabolic health – which are all linked to healthy diets.

While eating healthfully may not reverse hearing damage, a good diet may play a part in prevention.

The research also showed noise exposure, sex, genetics, race, ethnicity and age also had an impact on hearing health.

http://informahealthcare.com/doi/full/10.3109/14992027.2014.921340