Certain dietary habits can help prevent hearing loss or reduce its effects.
There are a few obvious ways to prevent hearing loss: avoiding loud, damaging noises is one. But there are a few lesser known ways to prevent hearing loss as well. For example, a good diet can actually help prevent hearing loss. These basic tips may even help you prevent hearing loss entirely, so read on to find out how to protect your hearing through what you eat.
Potassium
Having a good amount of potassium in your body allows for it to regulate the amount of fluid in your blood and body tissue. This is especially important for our inner ear, which translates the noises we hear into an electrical signal that our brain decodes into being sound. Some foods that will help boost your potassium levels are potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, raisins, bananas, melons, oranges, and yogurt.
Folic Acid
Having folic acid in your diet helps determine your body’s ability to grow new cells. This really impacts circulation as well, and circulation is critical to how the inner ear functions. There have been studies that suggest folic acid supplements could help prevent hearing loss. If you want to know how to beef up your folic acid intake, consider eating broccoli, asparagus, and even breakfast cereal.
Magnesium
An intake of magnesium could save you a trip to the audiologist. One study done at the University of Michigan Kresge Hearing Research Institute showed that people who were pretreated with magnesium were better protected from noise-related hearing loss than those who weren’t. This is probably because magnesium prevents the effects of radicals emitted during loud noises, acting as a protective barrier for the inner ear. Introduce some more fruits and veggies in your diet–bananas, artichokes, tomatoes, and broccoli in particular–and your magnesium levels will go up.
Bay Area Audiology can help your hearing recover!
If you are concerned about hearing loss or seeking hearing evaluations, tinnitus evaluations, or hearing aid assistance, our doctors are ready to help. We are passionate about helping all of our patients improve their quality of life through better hearing. We also believe that patient education is critical, so you won’t be lead through endless sales pitches at our office. If you are interested in hearing how we can help you hear even better, contact us at (410) 838-4327 or online. For more hearing tips and articles, follow Bay Area Audiology on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
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