HMN 2026: How Diet may influence tinnitus risk in women

Diet may influence the risk of women developing tinnitus, according to a study published online Dec. 17 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Sharon G. Curhan, M.D., from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues examined the longitudinal associations of diet patterns and risk for developing persistent tinnitus using data from two independent cohorts of 113,554 women, the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS; 1984 to 2022; 42,504 participants) and NHS2 (1991 to 2021; 71,050 participants).

The researchers found that while greater adherence to overall healthy diet patterns did not consistently reduce risk, higher fruit intake was associated with a reduced risk in both cohorts, while higher intakes of whole grains, legumes, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) were associated with a greater risk for incident tinnitus. For the highest and lowest quintiles of intake, the pooled adjusted hazard ratios were 0.81 for fruit, 1.26 for whole grains, 1.13 for legumes, and 1.12 for SSBs. Findings were similar for a subcohort of women for whom lifetime noise exposure information was available.

“This study provides compelling evidence that dietary intake can influence the development of persistent tinnitus,” the authors write. “As certain foods that were identified in this study as contributors to increased risk are typically recommended as part of an overall healthy diet, at this point we do not recommend avoidance of these foods.”

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