Relationship between Inflammatory Food Consumption and Age-Related Hearing Loss in a Prospective Observational Cohort: Results from the Salus in Apulia Study.

Rodolfo Sardone,Vito Guerra,Nicola Quaranta,Francesco Panza,Petronilla Battista,Giancarlo Logroscino,Rossella Donghia,Heiner Boeing,Giovanni De Pergola,Marco Castellana,Madia Lozupone,Roberta Zupo,Fabio Castellana,Davide Seripa,Roberta Rucco,Ilaria Bortone,Andrea Passantino,Luisa Lampignano,Filippo Procino,Gianluigi Giannelli

doi:10.3390/nu12020426

Abstract

Age related hearing loss (ARHL) affects about one third of the elderly population. It is suggested that the senescence of the hair cells could be modulated by inflammation. Thus, intake of anti- and pro-inflammatory foods is of high interest. Methods: From the MICOL study population, 734 participants were selected that participated in the 2013 to 2018 examination including hearing ability and from which past data collected in 2005/2008 was available. ARHL status was determined and compared cross-sectionally and retrospectively according to clinical and lifestyle data including food and micronutrient intake. Results: ARHL status was associated with higher age but not with education, smoking, relative weight (BMI), and clinical-chemical blood markers in the crossectional and retrospective analyses. Higher intake of fruit juices among ARHL-participants was seen cross-sectionally, and of sugary foods, high-caloric drinks, beer, and spirits retrospectively. No difference was found for the other 26 food groups and for dietary micronutrients with the exception of past vitamin A, which was higher among normal hearing subjects. Conclusions: Pro-inflammatory foods with a high-sugar content and also beer and spirits were found to be assocated with positive ARHL-status, but not anti-inflammatory foods. Diet could be a candidate for lifestyle advice for the prevention of ARHL.

Highlights

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is an important and prevalent disease in the elderly population.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 18% of the population over 65 years are affected by disabling hearing loss [1]
Given that the relation between alcohol consumption and other health outcomes varies according to the kind of beverage drunk [70,71], in the present study we explored the association of wine, beer and spirits consumption with Age related hearing loss (ARHL) and our analysis showed that a higher consumption of beer and spirits significantly increased the ARHL risk
It seems clear that defining protective factors that could delay ARHL onset in older age could have a great impact on healthy aging

Summary

Introduction

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is an important and prevalent disease in the elderly population.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 18% of the population over 65 years are affected by disabling hearing loss [1]. It is not surprising that only a few population studies in the literature have described the factors related to the incidence or prevalence of ARHL [2] The establishment of such factors - if modifiable—with sufficient evidence could be an important step forward towards the prevention of ARHL and could potentially allow the repair of early damage to the hearing before it can reach an irreversible state [3]. Such investigations need to be seen as a general public health approach to understanding and preventing hearing loss and to tracking the long-term trajectories of age-related chronic diseases

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