Women wanting to reduce the risk of hearing loss as they age should eat more fish, researchers say, with just two servings a week seen as preventing or at least delaying the chronic condition.
Researchers affiliated with the Harvard Medical School say they've discovered a "strong connection" linking consumption of fish and omega-3 fatty acids and a decreased incidence of hearing loss.
"Acquired hearing loss is a highly prevalent, and often disabling, chronic health condition," says corresponding study author Dr. Sharon Curhan of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
"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," she says.
The study followed 65,000 women from 1991 up until 2009, of which more than 11,000 developed some level of hearing loss.
However, women who consumed fish at least twice a week showed a 20 percent reduced risk of developing hearing loss than was found in women who seldom ate fish, the researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Many types of fish were found to be coupled with lowered risk, they said.
While the exact nature or mechanism of a link between fish in the diet and hearing health is unknown, Curhan says she believes it may have to do with blood flow within the inner ear, which has significant energy demands, and the ability of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids contained in fish to aid that flow.
The finding is just the latest example of the health benefits for women contained in a fish diet, the researchers say.
Previous studies have shown a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can lower the risk of heart disease and Alzheimer's disease, and in pregnant women can offer vital nutrients necessary for fetal development.
Experts do caution that overconsumption of some types types of fish may have negative health consequences.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration have suggested people limit their consumption of some fish found to display high levels of mercury.
Species such as tuna, Swordfish and Chilean Sea Bass can build up a toxic form of the chemical, methylmercury, which in high levels in humans can cause damage to the heart, brain, kidneys and immune system.
Still, a reasonable consumption of fish can offer considerable health benefits, researchers say, and protecting hearing can now be added to the list thanks to the newest study.
"These findings suggest that diet may be important in the prevention of acquired hearing loss," Curhan emphasizes.
