(NaturalPath) While you can prevent hearing loss by reducing noise exposure and working to avoid ear infections, what are some foods you can eat to make sure your ears keep up with you? Through Audicus.com, we look at ways to keep your hearing top-notch!
Omega 3 Fats & Vitamin D
One way to keep your ears healthy is to stock up on omega-3 fats and vitamin D. These are found in fish such as salmon, tuna, trout or sardines and can really help you. Studies have shown that adults who ate fish twice a week had a 42 percent lower chance of facing age-related hearing loss than non-fish eaters. Researchers claim the reason it helps is that the omega 3 fats strengthen the blood vessels in our ear’s sensory system.
Antioxidants & Folic Acid
Regular intake of foods such as spinach, asparagus, beans, broccoli, eggs, liver or nets, can reduce the risk of hearing loss by up to 20 percent due to the folic acid. Those antioxidants reduce the number of free radicals that are in your body preventing those free radicals from potentially damaging the nerve tissue in your inner ears.
Magnesium
Having bananas, potatoes, artichokes and the magnesium that they are carrying has been shown to provide additional protection against noise-induced hearing loss. However, don’t overdo it and eat a bunch of bananas so you can listen too loud – it won’t work.
Zinc
You can increase your inner ear’s resistance to the boon of age-related hearing loss by keeping a healthy dose of Zinc. This can be found in dark chocolate or oysters, and other foods.
Vitamin C, E & Glutathione
In somewhat of the same way as antioxidants, the vitamins C and E act as hearing loss supplements that keep free radicals in check and strengthen your overall immune system, thus reducing the risk of ear infections. You can easily find these in vegetables (bell peppers) and fruits (oranges).
Razi Berry, Founder and Publisher of Naturopathic Doctor News & Review (ndnr.com) and NaturalPath (thenatpath.com), has spent the last decade as a natural medicine advocate and marketing whiz. She has galvanized and supported the naturopathic community, bringing a higher quality of healthcare to millions of North Americans through her publications. A self-proclaimed health-food junkie and mother of two; she loves all things nature, is obsessed with organic gardening, growing fruit trees (not easy in Phoenix), laughing until she snorts, and homeschooling. She is a little bit crunchy and yes, that is her real name.