Eating fish, fatty acids reduces hearing loss risk in women

A new study has revealed that consumption of two or more servings of fish per week is associated with a lower risk of hearing loss in women.

According to the researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, acquired hearing loss is a highly prevalent and often disabling chronic health condition and although a decline in hearing is often considered an inevitable aspect of aging, the identification of several potentially modifiable risk factors has provided new insight into possibilities for prevention or delay of acquired hearing loss.

Data were from the Nurses' Health Study II, a prospective cohort study. In the study, 65,215 women were followed from 1991 to 2009. After 1,038,093 person-years of follow-up, 11,606 cases of incident hearing loss were reported. In comparison with women who rarely consumed fish, women who consumed two or more servings of fish per week had a 20 percent lower risk of hearing loss. When examined individually, higher consumption of each specific fish type was inversely associated with risk.

Higher intake of long-chain omega-3PUFA was also inversely associated with risk of hearing loss.

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN).