CAN A DIETARY SUPPLEMENT STAVE OFF HEARING LOSS?
Many people take a vitamin each morning to maintain good nutrition, energy, bone strength, and overall health. Can popping a pill also protect our hearing against damage caused by loud noise? Researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Florida, together with the biosciences company OtoMedicine, have demonstrated that temporary noise-induced hearing loss – the hearing loss you might feel immediately after attending a loud concert but that goes away in a day or two – can be prevented in guinea pigs by a combination of the antioxidants beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E and the mineral magnesium, when administered before exposure to a loud sound. Because repeated bouts of temporary noise-induced hearing loss may lead to permanent noise-induced hearing loss, the scientists hope to determine whether prevention of the former can stave off the latter in various animal models and in humans. In a second study conducted with colleagues at Washington University, the resea
