Age-related hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in the Western world, with 36 million people suffering from it in the USA alone. In fact, it is so common that most of us take it for granted ? that at some point our grandparents and parents will become "deaf", creating the need for expensive hearing aids or leading to the possibility of loneliness and depression because they can't hear the conversation around them. But why do we take this for granted? Why should this particular sense fail us before our others? Of course eye sight also degenerates, as can touch, smell and taste, and many people suffer from these unwelcome effects of aging, but there is often an obvious cause of these problems, and regularly a cure. For loss of hearing it is much more commonly treated with coping mechanisms like hearing aids rather than improving the natural hearing itself.
So against this backdrop, the results of a recent study into the effects of high folate levels on hearing in men over 60, are very significant. The research was led by Boston based scientist Josef Shargorodsky. He used figures from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study that took place between 1986 and 2004. In total the study looked at 51,529 male health professionals, which included 3,559 men with hearing loss. His research into this sub section found that men over the age of 60 that had a high folate intake from either food or supplements, had a 20 percent reduced risk of developing hearing loss.
This conclusion backs up previous evidence that supported the same result. In 2007 at Wageningen University scientists studied 728 men and women between the ages of 50 and 70 and reported that folic acid supplements (folic acid is the synthetic version of folate) delayed the onset of age-related hearing loss.
Folic Acid has already proven itself to be a very effective health support for pregnant women. It is now widely accepted that a deficiency of folate in the first 3 months of pregnancy can lead to a greater risk of the baby being born with spina bifida or anencephaly. Since this discovery, many staple foods such as bread and cereals are fortified with folic acid. Pregnant women (and those trying for a baby) are advised to take a folic acid supplement in the early stages of pregnancy as well. There has been some evidence in the US that levels of these illnesses at birth are decreasing.
But these new studies now suggest that folate has a quite different role to play in the health of the older generation. With millions of people suffering with age-related hearing loss, and many more family members suffering with how this affects them, perhaps it's time we stopped accepting it as a natural rite of passage to getting older, and started finding out what we can do to help prevent or at least delay it. And based on these studies, a diet high in folate ? green leafy vegetables, chick peas, lentils and fortified foods ? seems like a good place to start.
Keywords: hearing, aging, folic acid, nutrition, diet, ear
