Tinnitus (buzzing, roaring or ringing in the ears) is a common symptom affecting approximately 30 million Americans. Caffeine is the most commonly used psychoactive substance.
For decades it has been taught that caffeine consumption makes the symptom of tinnitus worse. We set out to assess the relationship between caffeine and tinnitus after a randomized controlled trial showed that patients with tinnitus that cut back on caffeine consumption showed no improvement in their symptoms, but rather the only effect seen was harm in the way of withdrawal symptoms from caffeine cessation.
We studied a cohort of 116,430 nurses across the United States and demonstrated that those who consumed more caffeine were actually less likely to develop new onset of tinnitus.
This is the first study to look at the risk of new onset of tinnitus as it relates to caffeine consumption, which is exciting. Hopefully more research will come out to further detail this relationship in the future.
Original Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24608016
Keywords: Tinnitus, Caffeine, Diet, Public Health
Comments