Hearing Loss Can Be Reversed By Nutraceuticals

In a recent edition of the journal Current Opinions of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit reported that there was compelling evidence suggesting that antioxidant supplementation is beneficial for improving, and even reversing, the effects of several types of acquired hearing loss. They hypothecated that at a cellular and sub-cellular level, hearing impairment seems, in many cases, to be precipitated by oxidative stress and damage.

In a related article from The University of Michigan published in the October 2007 edition of the journal Neurobiology of Aging, researchers noted that there appears to be oxidative imbalance in the aging inner ear. Researchers investigated oxidative stress in the cochlea of a group of aging mice. They noted that over time there were increasing markers of oxidative stress, with decreased levels of antioxidant proteins and enzymes found in the cochlea of these mice. They noted an imbalance of redox status possibly could be a component of age-related hearing loss.

There was a study out of Israel published in the journal Kidney International in August 2007 regarding drug induced hearing loss. In a group of forty patients in a study protocol, those patients given N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) appeared to have oto-protective effects. They noted that the study suggested that NAC supplementation may ameliorate antibiotic induced oto-toxicity in patients undergoing dialysis. NAC is a powerful antioxidant proven to boost glutathione levels up to 92% and is more effective when compared to glutathione supplementation. In fact, if you have over dosed on Tylenol the recommended way to reverse toxicity in the hospital is intravenous NAC. The reason Tylenol is liver toxic is the fact that it depletes glutathione levels in the liver, leading to free radicals destroying healthy liver cells. Whey protein has also been proven to boost glutathione levels.

There was an article published May 2007 in the journal Free Radical Biology Medicine, again out of the University of Michigan. This study involved the effects of hearing loss after severe noise trauma. It reported that the antioxidant agents vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin E in synergy with magnesium appeared to effectively preclude noise-induced trauma. It also noted that this supplementation was highly effective in reducing both hearing loss and cell death, even when supplementation was initiated one hour before noise exposure.