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Chocolate may protect against hearing loss

Nutrients (2019);11:746 DOI:10.3390/nu11040746

Chocolate may reduce the risk of hearing loss by about a fifth, according to a Korean study which enrolled 3575 people aged between 40 and 64 years.

The risk of unilateral or bilateral hearing loss was 17% lower in those who consumed chocolate (26.78%) than those who did not (35.97%) after adjusting for confounders. Chocolate consumption was also associated with a 21% reduction in the risk of bilateral hearing loss (13.31% and 20.32% respectively) and a 22% reduction in the risk of high-tone hearing loss (51.58% and 63.60% respectively). The severity of hearing loss was inversely correlated with the frequency of chocolate consumption.