Studies have found that coffee may prevent tinnitus

Being a coffee lover may be good for people's ears, a new study suggests. The researchers found that women who consumed large amounts of caffeine were less likely to develop tinnitus. Tinnitus is when people feel the ringing or buzzing sound in their ears all the time.

The study participants included more than 65,000 American women between the ages of 30 and 44 who did not develop tinnitus in 1991 and were followed up for 18 years. During this period, nearly 5300 women reported tinnitus.

The researchers found that women who consumed less than 150 milligrams of caffeine a day (about the amount of caffeine in an 8-ounce cup of coffee) were 15 percent more likely to develop tinnitus than those who consumed 450 to 599 milligrams of caffeine a day. According to a study published in the American Medical Journal, most of the caffeine consumed by women comes from coffee.

It is not clear why caffeine intake can reduce the risk of tinnitus. "We know that caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, and previous studies have shown that caffeine has a direct effect on the human inner ear," said senior author Dr. Gary Karan, a physician and researcher at Brigan Women's Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He said at a news conference at the hospital.

There is no way to prove that the relationship between caffeine intake and tinnitus found in the study is a causal relationship. The authors of the study say further research is needed before there is conclusive evidence that increased caffeine intake can improve tinnitus symptoms.