Oct
17

Tinnitus is a neurological disorder, and certain foods such as aspartame trigger tinnitus because they are ototoxic to your ears, meaning that they cause damage to your hearing. Vertigo, ear ringing, and ear fullness are all symptoms of tinnitus that can be alleviated by following a tinnitus-friendly diet. Listed are some foods, drinks, and chemicals that may trigger tinnitus and feelings of dizziness.

Find your tinnitus triggers

Different foods cause different reactions in people with tinnitus; some find that a cup of coffee helps to fight fatigue, thereby improving tinnitus symptoms. Others find that cutting out all caffeinated beverages has significantly improved or completely eradicated tinnitus, vertigo, and other ailments.

Sometimes, hidden allergies can cause tinnitus. Some foods that are highly allergenic include nuts, peppers, nightshade vegetables, dairy products, wheat, and berries.

To be certain about tinnitus triggers in diet, it’s a good idea to put together a diary listing the foods you eat each day and review it regularly for clues.

• Make a list of foods known to trigger tinnitus.
• Eliminate them from your diet for a few weeks.
• Slowly reintroduce them back into your diet, one by one.
• Record your levels of tinnitus and dizziness into your diary each day.
• You may find that tinnitus symptoms correlate with the reintroduction of a certain tinnitus-triggering food into your diet.

Foods to avoid

To prevent tinnitus from worsening, or to reduce the amount of ear ringing and vertigo you experience each day, try cutting out the following foods, liquids, and additives from your diet, even if you don’t have allergies.

Caffeine

While there’s no concrete evidence that caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea can exacerbate or cause tinnitus, everybody agrees that caffeine is a stimulant and has diuretic properties. Stress and loss of bodily fluids are common tinnitus triggers.

Alcohol

Also under debate, some people find that having a few drinks within safe limits helps to soothe tinnitus, while others maintain that alcohol is best avoided.

Quinine

Long-term quinine medication for malaria and drinking of tonic water containing quinine are confirmed tinnitus triggers.

Salt

To relieve symptoms of tinnitus and vertigo, it’s imperative to reduce your sodium intake. Salty foods cause high blood pressure, constricting your blood vessels and preventing adequate blood flow to your ears. Hypertension is a proven trigger of tinnitus and vertigo.

Sugar

The more we learn about refined white sugar, the more we have found that many of the world’s ailments and diseases can be prevented or alleviated just by limiting this unhealthful sweetener.

In relation to tinnitus and vertigo, studies have found that a diabetic diet restricting white sugar can significantly improve symptoms of tinnitus. According to research, nearly 92% of tinnitus sufferers have hyperinsulinemia, a sugar metabolism disorder that results in fluctuating levels of sugar and oxygen delivery to the ears’ inner nerve cells, which in turn may cause tinnitus and vertigo. Consumption of white sugar is a primary cause of hyperinsulinemia, diabetes, and other blood sugar disorders.

 

Sugar Substitutes

Imitation sweeteners such as aspartame and glutamate are neurotransmitters that excite the nerve cells of the inner ears, increasing your chances for developing tinnitus. When you drink diet soda or add Splenda to your coffee, your neurons become overactive and eventually die out, resulting in damage to your nervous system.

Aspartame, along with Glutamate, is an excitatory neuro-transmitter in the brain. It causes neurons to fire repeatedly until they become depleted and die. This causes untold damage to the nervous system and can lead to neuro-degenerative conditions including tinnitus.