A Survey of Vitamin Intake amongst Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Female Students in Saudi Arabia: A Pilot Study

Background: Previous international research shows severe vitamin deficiencies in people with hearing loss. Hearing loss is improved for many people when vitamins such as A, B, C, D, E and K are replaced. Objective: To determine whether a dietary intake of vitamins linked to deafness were deficient among a group of 18-21 year-old hearing impaired and hearing Saudi Arabian female students. Design: This was a cross sectional study involving 64 hearing students and 42 hard of hearing female students aged 18-21 in a university in Saudi Arabia. Food intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. Vitamin levels were calculated for each food and compared to the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for each group. Knowledge and understanding of vitamin deficiency was answered by face to face interviews. The study duration was one year from September 2010 to September 2011. Results: In comparing the vitamin amounts the students consumed over 24 hours for both groups, the hearing impaired group’s vitamin consumption met the RDA. The hearing group’s vitamin consumption met the RDA on all vitamins except for vitamin B9 and vitamin D. The RDA for vitamin B9 is 0.4 mg. The hearing group had an RDA of 0.3 mg. The RDA for vitamin D is 0.015 mg. The hearing group had an RDA of 0.01 mg. The hearing impaired group had a higher RDA overall with all vitamins compared to the hearing group. A greater percentage of hearing students consumed a higher frequency of vitamin rich foods over the course of the week, compared to the hearing impaired students with values totalling 55% and 40% respectively. Discussion: The vitamin D deficiency among the students could be attributed largely to poor exposure to sunlight, poor dietary vitamin D supplementation and obesity. The lower frequency of vitamin deficiency among the hearing students could be attributed to environmental or behavioural factors or being exposed to different foods. The greater consumption of vitamins B3, C, E and K among the hearing impaired students will be beneficial in the long term for protection in noise induced hearing loss. Increasing antioxidants in the body to rid the body of free radicals. Increasing the activity of vitamin D, an important vitamin in bone mineralization.