Does Caffeine Really Cause or Aggravate Tinnitus?
For most of my adult life I have been under the impression that caffeine in coffee and tea especially, are a great cause of tinnitus or ringing in the ears. Apparently I have been labouring under a misapprehension – in other words I have been wrong!
The latest survey by UK scientists now say that cutting out caffeine by reducing the intake of coffee, tea, cola and chocolate drinks – may in fact make the situation worse for tinnitus sufferers!
After work carried out on behalf of Deafness Research UK by Dr Lindsay St Claire – which put forward a £55,000 grant ( $90,00 US) – researchers from Bristol University carried extensive tests with 66 volunteers over a period of 30 days. They discovered that reducing the caffeine content did not help at all with ringing or other noises in the ears, in fact if anything it made it slightly worse.
This has to be good news for caffeine drinkers world-wide. Which in fact covers almost 85% of the global population who, according to Dr St Claire consume coffee on a daily basis.
On a side-note here. It has to be said that coffee is known to increase blood pressure in some individuals, and indeed increase anxiety attacks in others. Both these conditions are known to increase the likelihood of tinnitus. If that is indeed the case, it could be argued that caffeine consumption does carry a certain risk to individuals who are prone to either of these ailments.
Overall however I suspect that moderate consumption of caffeine through drinking coffee or tea, is unlikely to pose any real problem to those prone to tinnitus symptoms. Like most things in life, ‘moderation’ seems to be the key. Excessive consumption or participation – be it in the form of food & drink or life-style choices – is almost certainly going to be a destructive force when it comes to the individual concerned.