file.newsgroup.med.59572 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: vitamin A and hearing loss
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (claude bowie) writes:
> i heard a news report indicating research showing improved
> hearing in people taking vitamin A. the research showed that new
> growth replaced damaged "hairlike" nerves. has anyone heard about
> this?
>
Claude, I've not heard or read anything that would suggest that vitamin A(
retinol) could reverse hearing loss due to nerve damage(usually caused by
high sound levels, but also occassionally due to severe infection). The
types of cells that vitamin A regulates are the general epithelial cells
and these cell types are not the ones that function in the ear hearing
process. The hair cell nerve-like epithelial cells in the ear may respond
to vitamin A during cellular differentiation(embryogenesis) but I don't
know if they are still capable of responding in adults. If they are
capable of responding with new hair growth, this would be a very major
breakthrough in hearing loss. With all of the medical interest in vitamin
A, it would not be too surprising if a clinical study was done using
vitamin A to reverse hearing loss. But with only a news announcement to go
on(and this type of communication is notoriously bad), I can't comment on
your question anymore than I already have. If one study has been done,
more will need to follow to firm up a link between vitamin A and hearing
loss if there really is one.
Marty B.
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