Takeaway
- Higher consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was associated with a lower risk of disabling hearing impairment in women, but not in men.
- Replacing 5% of total energy intake from saturated fatty acids (SFAs) with equivalent energy from dietary PUFAs was associated with a reduced risk of disabling hearing impairment in women.
Why this matters
- A deeper understanding of the effect of habitual consumption of specific fatty acids on hearing function may help in developing dietary recommendations for healthy ageing, including optimal hearing.
Study design
- An analysis of 105,592 UK Biobank participants (47,308 men and 58,284 women; age, ≥40 years) who completed ≥1 valid 24-hour recall questionnaire (Oxford Web-Q).
- Dietary intakes of total fatty acids, PUFAs, SFAs and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) were evaluated.
- Functional auditory capacity was measured using a digit triplet test to determine the speech reception threshold noise.
- Funding: None.
Key results
- Over a median follow-up of 3.2 years, 832 men and 872 women developed disabling hearing impairment.
- In women, higher consumption of PUFA was associated with a lower risk of disabling hearing impairment (quintile 5 vs 1: adjusted HR [aHR], 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53-0.91; P=.04).
- Total fat, SFA and MUFA intakes had no significant association with disabling hearing impairment.
- In men, no significant associations were observed between fatty acid intake and hearing impairment; aHRs, 95% CIs for quintile 5 vs 1 were:
- 0.91 (0.71-1.17; P=.31) for total fat;
- 1.09 (0.83-1.44; P=.48) for PUFA;
- 0.85 (0.64-1.13; P=.23) for SFA; and
- 1.01 (0.74-1.36; P=.87) for MUFA.
- Replacing 5% of energy intake from SFAs with equivalent energy from PUFAs was associated with a reduced risk of disabling hearing function in women (aHR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.74-0.77).
Limitations
- Use of 24-hour recall questionnaires to assess habitual diet.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
