You may need an urgent appointment with your GP, the doctor said.
A doctor from BBC Morning Live has suggested that eating an apple a day might help prevent a certain condition called tinnitus, which he warned can be “debilitating” for lot of people. Dr. Oscar Duke, a regular on the show, stated that fruit could play a crucial role.
“Tinnitus can be really debilitating”, he said, explaining: “It’s that sound that you can hear in your ears. It’s often high-pitched, whiny, a sort of crackling type sound that isn’t coming from an external source.”
Tinnitus can sound like:
- ringing
- buzzing
- whooshing
- humming
- hissing
- throbbing
- music or singing
You might hear these sounds in one or both ears or even inside your head. They can be occasional or constant. Dr Oscar explained that while the exact cause is unknown, various factors can contribute to it, including hearing loss and exposure to loud noises like concerts.
Despite him saying that “it’s really difficult to treat” with treatments differing from person to person, he revealed some good news. He shared: “Some researchers in China have done what they call a systematic review.
“So they get loads of different observational studies, look at them all and put them all together to see if they can find any trends. And across all the studies – they looked at over 300,000 people – they did find that eating fruit in their results” can help.
He further expanded: “If you eat a good amount of fruit, you were 35% less likely to develop tinnitus, according to the studies that they looked at”. They also noted: “An apple a day – even one apple – could be enough to significantly reduce that” risk.
Doctor Duke said that “300,000 people is a good number” however he reminded viewers that “these are observational studies” meaning “they are not set up to prove cause so we don’t know for certain and even the people who wrote this paper, the researchers, have said there is no level evidence for the study.”
The NHS advises that if your tinnitus pulses in sync with your heartbeat, you should book an urgent appointment with your GP. Dr Oscar emphasised that if you have any concerns, you should always seek your GP’s advice.
