Feed Your Ears: Nutrition & Hearing

You may probably recollect your parents insisting that you eat your veggies before leaving the dinner table. You may know by now how vital these healthy foods are to your body and general health. But did you know that healthy eating affects your hearing ear health too?

When it comes to protecting our hearing, most people resort to the usual proactive measures – keeping the volume down, wearing protective headphones. However, you also need to ensure that you support your efforts with the proper nutrition. So, make sure that your diet contains these nutrients to feed your ears with.

Vitamins A, B, C, and E

These essential vitamins are critical for ear health. They combine perfectly with minerals like iron and zinc to protect against ear infections, especially in children. The fewer ear infections your child experiences, the healthier their hearing will be as they get older. That is because frequent ear infections in children can lead to hearing loss and hearing issues later. Plus, these vitamins also prevent the production of free radicals. You can get a rich amount of zinc and iron from foods like dark chocolate, lentils, beef, cashew, pork and almonds.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D may not be the most accessible vitamin to get from daily food for some people. However, it is essential when it comes to preventing bone loss. The region just behind your eardrum is your middle ear and contains the three smallest bones in your body. And just like any other bone in your body, these tiny bones are also easily susceptible to bone loss. You can prevent this by ensuring that your diet is rich in vitamin D. Alternatively, you can take vitamin D supplements or get it naturally from the sun.

Vitamin B9, Folic Acid and Folate

These nutrients play a huge role in generating new cell growth while helping to increase body circulation. This healthy circulation helps support the tiny hair cells located in the inner part of the ears, ensuring that they remain healthy. Healthy circulation also ensures that blood flow reaches all areas of the body, including the inner ears. Foods like liver, beans, leafy greens, peas and citrus fruits are very high in these nutrients.

Omega-3

Omega-3 is another equally essential nutrient for any hearing health. High levels of triglycerides can affect your hearing. Triglycerides are a type of fat content in the blood, and the omega-3 fatty acids found in most seafood types have been proven to help reduce the risk of hearing loss issues.

Magnesium

Magnesium also helps prevent the production and spread of free radicals in the body. Some research has shown that the human body naturally produces free radicals anytime the body is exposed to loud noise. Unfortunately, there is nothing free about free radicals, as they cost the body a lot. For example, they create oxidative stress, one of the main culprits as far as age-related hearing loss issues are concerned. Magnesium plays the role of protecting the thousands of delicate hair cells in the inner ear from these free radicals. To ensure that your body receives its healthy dose of magnesium, add some of the following to your diet – broccoli, artichokes, potatoes and bananas. 

Potassium

This mineral helps to regulate fluids found in the human body’s tissues and blood. Most of the human body is made up of fluids, and even areas like the inner part of the ear contain fluid. This helps to translate sound waves that the ear receives into electrical impulses sent to the brain to be decoded.

Unfortunately, the older you get, the more your body’s natural potassium level drops. And potassium deficiency is one of the major contributing factors in developing age-related hearing loss issues. You can supplement this natural loss by ensuring that you add potassium-rich foods to your diet. Your options here include lima beans, spinach, potatoes, apricots, raisins and bananas.

Foods to Avoid

While it is essential to ensure that you enrich your daily diet with the needed sources of nutrients to support your hearing health, you should take care to avoid or consume less of the foods that can adversely affect your ear health. For example, the following foods can increase your risks of experiencing hearing loss or hearing-related issues when consumed in large quantities:

• Margarine and vegetable oil
• High-fat meats
• Refined carbohydrates
• Sodium
• Canola oil

To learn more about Salyer Hearing Center, kindly call us at Sylva: 828-586-7474, Franklin: 828-524-5599 and Murphy: 828-835-1014