In a few days I’m going to be speaking at the International Conference and Exhibition On Anti-Aging, Aesthetic and Regenerative Medicine in Malaysia.
I missed the conference last year because – I won’t mention any names, but – somebody didn’t renew my passport.
My assistant S.D. called the folks in Malaysia ahead of time, and they said my passport was okay, even though it was expiring six days after I was scheduled to come home. Turns out it needed to be good for six months after my return.
The officials at the airport didn’t seem very understanding when they said, “Well, don’t you know you have to do those things in advance?”
So I raise my hand.. this one’s on me. I should have checked my passport and made sure.
I’m very pleased the conference organizers invited me back. And this time, I’m not only the featured speaker, I’m the featured speaker for both days.
I have the biggest time slot: 9:00 A.M. on Saturday and then 9:00 A.M. on Sunday. Saturday I’m going to be speaking about P.A.C.E., and Sunday I’ll be speaking and giving a slide show about new discoveries in telomere biology.
Stay tuned, because you’re going to get to hear about what I’ll be presenting before the world does.
It’s going to take me all day to get there, though. It’s a 22-hour flight to Malaysia. I’ve gotten in the habit of wearing earphones on planes, because I don’t like all the noise from the engines.
I fly a lot, and I think the noise may affect my hearing. I’m lucky my hearing’s still pretty good. But I think nutrition is a big part of it.
Most people don’t know this, but inflammation is part of the process by which you lose your hearing. I’ve been addressing that in my own body for some time. But you can do even more for sensorineural hearing loss – hearing loss from loud noises.
Here are the nutrients I take that really work:
N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) – In China, the construction and traffic noise can be brutal. So researchers are constantly looking for ways to help the millions of people who live in and around China’s huge cities.
Just last year they did a study where they took 363 people and randomly divided them so that one group got a placebo and the other got NAC. Then they exposed them to harsh, loud noises. The people taking the NAC were protected from hearing loss.1
Our military now treats soldiers with NAC during training to protect them from blast noise from gunfire and explosions.2
In fact, one study looked at military officers after shooting practice. The guns are incredibly loud. A roaring jet engine from a plane taking off a few feet above your head would be about 120 decibels. These officers were hearing gunfire that was up to 160 decibels.
After the noise exposure, one group took NAC and one got no treatment. The NAC group had much better hearing. Not only that, but the unprotected group had damage to the inner ear structure that’s responsible for turning sound into nerve impulses so your brain can make sense of it. But the NAC group stayed completely normal and totally protected.3
I recommend you take 800 mg a day of NAC to prevent hearing loss.
Magnesium – We’ve known for years that magnesium is a powerful antioxidant and can even relieve headaches. But did you know it can improve hearing loss?
A study of military recruits found even a small amount of magnesium every day helped protect the ear from noise-induced damage. Those who got magnesium were less likely to experience permanent hearing damage, and when they did experience hearing damage, it wasn’t severe.4
This could be because when the cells in your ear are low on magnesium, it causes you to release catecholamines and prostaglandins, which steal energy from the hair cells in your ears. These cells are connected to your cochlear nerve and they need all the energy they can get to protect themselves after noise exposure.
Because what makes it worse is that low magnesium reduces microcirculation in your inner ear. And after loud noises, you have a 70% reduction in blood flow to the inner ear. It’s like a double whammy.
You can get more magnesium by eating nuts, seeds, dairy products and dark green, leafy vegetables. But modern farming practices have depleted much of the mineral content in our soil, so there’s not much magnesium in vegetables any more.
Magnesium used to be in your drinking water, but water with high mineral content – hard water – fell out of favor because most people don’t like the taste.
If you can’t get enough magnesium through food, you can take a supplement. I recommend between 600 and 1000 mg a day. Take it with vitamin B6. It will increase the amount of magnesium that accumulates in your cells.
Vinpocetine – In one study, hearing trauma disappeared in half of those who took it within one week of loud noises.5
Even if you don’t take it right away, vinpocetine can lessen the severity. Regardless of how long it was since the trauma, 66 percent had a significant decrease in hearing loss. I recommend 20 mg a day.
1. Ge Z, Ma S, Jia X, Song L. “Study of protective effects on noise-induced hearing loss using N-acetyl-cysteine.” Lin Chung Er Bi Yan Hou Tou Jing Wai Ke Za Zhi. 2011 Nov;25(22):1040-1.
2. Ewert D, Lu J, Li W, Du X, Floyd R, Kopke R. “Antioxidant treatment reduces blast-induced cochlear damage and hearing loss.” Hear Res. 2012 Mar;285(1-2):29-39.
3. Lindblad A, Rosenhall U, Olofsson A, Hagerman B. “The efficacy of N-acetylcysteine to protect the human cochlea from subclinical hearing loss…” Noise Health. 2011 Nov-Dec;13(55):392-401.
4. Attias J, et. al. “Oral magnesium intake reduces permanent hearing loss induced by noise exposure.” Am J Otolaryngol. 1994 Jan-Feb;15(1):26-32.
5. Konopka W, Zalewski P, Olszewski J, Olszewska-Ziaber A, Pietkiewicz P. “Treatment results of acoustic trauma.” Otolaryngol Pol. 1997;51 Suppl 25:281-4.