4 vitamins and minerals for better hearing

Vitamins and minerals can help improve many bodily functions. They may even help you maintain or improve your hearing. Here are some vitamins and minerals you can add to your diet to help care for your ears and prevent premature hearing loss.

Salmon, herring, sardines, egg yolk and cod liver oil are all sources of vitamin D. We can also take in some vitamin D with a tiny bit of sun exposure. Vitamin D's importance to hearing is indirect: it is needed to enable our bodies to absorb calcium. Like other bones in the body, the tiny ossicles in the middle ear need calcium to keep them strong.

If you don't get enough vitamin D from your diet, milk or sunshine — you need about 10 to 20 minutes a day — then supplements could be useful, particularly during the long dark days of winter.

Like any other supplement, always check with your doctor before taking one. This way you can be sure it's safe for you.

One of the B vitamins, folate, is found in green leafy vegetables, chickpeas and lentils. Low levels of folate have been linked with hearing loss. A Dutch study found that dietary supplementation with folic acid for three years reduced age-related hearing loss in a group of older men and women.

Of course, one study is not enough to say that folate is definitely the answer to better hearing. More research still needs to be done. But it's a pretty good indicator that it may help.

And we do know that folate is a vitamin we need for many health benefits. Since many people are deficient in folate, boosting your dietary intake may not be a bad idea. It certainly won't harm you to up your intake of leafy greens!

This mineral is found in high-protein foods, including oysters, beef, pork, lamb, peanuts, peanut butter and legumes. A small amount of research has linked low zinc levels to both hearing loss and tinnitus. In some studies, zinc supplementation has been reported to improve symptoms.

Foods that provide a good source of this mineral include avocados, nuts and leafy green vegetables, such as spinach. Magnesium is an important component of the hair cells in the inner ear.

Several studies have shown that magnesium helps to protect against noise-induced hearing loss in both animals and humans. In one study, teenagers took a magnesium supplement before going to a rock concert. Although it didn't entirely block the damaging effects of noise, there was less change to their hearing thresholds afterwards.