Eating a diet rich in fruit, fiber, dairy and caffeine may lower the risk of the debilitating ear condition tinnitus by up to a third, a study suggests.
Tinnitus refers to noises don’t come from an outside source and includes ringing in the ears or buzzing, whooshing or humming.
The sounds may be in one or both ears, or in a person’s head, and can come and go.
Plaguing nearly one in 10 Americans and one in seven Brits, tinnitus has been linked to distress, depression, anxiety, and, in severe cases, suicide.
Now, a new study from researchers in China suggests diet may play a role in reducing the risk.
Looking at studies of more than 300,000 people, the team found that caffeine, fruits, fiber, and dairy slashed the risk of tinnitus by up to 35 percent.
The team suggested these foods may improve blood vessel function and increase insulin sensitivity, increasing blood flow and decreasing inflammation in the ear.
No associations were found between tinnitus and the other dietary factors studied.
A study from researchers in China suggests caffeine, fruits, fiber, and dairy slashed the risk of ear-ringing disease tinnitus by up to 35 percent (stock image)
The team cautioned that findings are observational, so a direct cause cannot be determined.’
The review, published in the journal BMJ, examined eight observational studies involving 301,533 people that assessed 15 dietary factors using questionnaires.
The findings took account of a range of foods, including carbohydrates, caffeine, eggs, fruits, fiber, fat, meat, protein, sugar, fish, vegetables and dairy.
The combined results suggested that caffeine, fruit, dietary dietary and dairy products ‘were negatively associated with the incidence of tinnitus,’ meaning they were linked to a lower risk.
These reductions were 35 percent for fruit intake, nine percent for fiber, 17 percent for dairy products, and 10 percent for caffeine intake.
However, the team, from Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, did say the findings on caffeine are contentious.
They wrote: ‘Our findings indicate that caffeine has a positive effect on tinnitus incidence. Some suggest that caffeine might effectively decrease tinnitus incidence, possibly because of its anxiety-reducing effects.
‘Conversely, some scholars argue that individuals with tinnitus often experience insomnia, in which caffeine consumption could worsen, thus exacerbating tinnitus.’
The team suggested these foods may protect against tinnitus due to their ‘protective effects of these diets on blood vessels and nerves, as well as their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.’
Calling for further studies, they said: ‘It is crucial to interpret our findings cautiously because of the overall low quality of the evidence available.’
Ralph Holme, director of research at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People in the UK, said: ‘Tinnitus affects one in seven adults and can be incredibly distressing for some people.
‘Whilst we always welcome any new research to understand more about tinnitus, these results should be treated with caution as they do not tell us anything about causality, i.e., these factors may simply be coincidental.
‘However, any new insights are always valuable and could lead to more research into this area helping us better understand tinnitus in the future.’
