Dr. G’s Secret for STOPPING Hearing Loss

You know that what you eat impacts things like your heart, your brain, and your gut.

Eating the right foods can reduce arthritis pain, boost your mood, and even improve your sex drive.

Yet most people are shocked when I tell them that their diet plays a direct role in another all-too-common condition of aging:

Hearing loss.

In reality, eating the right foods (and of course, avoiding the bad ones) is a critical step in maintaining your hearing as you get older.

I’ll share with you 5 of the best nutrients that have been scientifically proven to boost hearing.

Folate. The medical community has known about the connection between low folate levels and hearing loss for decades.

• One study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that older women with hearing loss had 43% lower folate levels than women with normal hearing.

• Another study specifically on men also showed that low levels of folate were connected to hearing loss.

• And a third study found that patients with sensorineural hearing loss had significantly lower folate levels than those with normal hearing. That’s a specific kind of hearing loss caused by damage to the inner ear.

The best sources of folate include spinach, beans, eggs, liver, and nuts.

Vitamin B12. Numerous studies have shown to that having low levels of vitamin B12 is associated with both sensorineural and age-related hearing loss.

In the case of both folate and vitamin B12, scientists believe that their connection to hearing loss has to do with their ability to lower homocysteine. Without enough of these nutrients, homocysteine levels rise, restricting blood flow to the cochlea.

You can get B12 from foods like meat, fish, and dairy.

Omega-3 fatty acids. There are all kinds of reasons to get more of this good fat in your diet. But while we often focus on the biggies—like heart and brain health—we can’t overlook its impact on hearing.

Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that people who ate cold-water fish twice a week had a 42% lower risk of developing age-related hearing loss compared to people who ate fish once a week.

Yet another reason to load up on wild-caught salmon and sardines!

Vitamins A and E. People who eat the most vitamin A have a 47% lower risk of hearing loss, while those who eat the most vitamin E have a 14% reduced risk of hearing loss.

Since spinach and sweet potatoes are good sources of both vitamins A and E, by eating more of these foods you’ll be killing two birds with one stone.

To a brighter day,

Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.