Stop hearing loss - Ask the experts: answers to your questions from the leaders in natural medicine

Is there anything I can do to prevent my mild deafness from worsening as I age?

ROBERT ANDERSON, M.D., REPLIES: Yes. Researchers believe that as we age, cumulative exposure to everyday noise and occasional incidents of excessively loud noise damage delicate hearing cells to cause mild deafness. Fortunately, the following measures can slow, stabilize, or even reverse this process. Here's what to do:

Wear Ear Protection. Wear headphones or ear plugs whenever you may be exposed to more than 85 decibels of noise, like when you use a lawn mower or a chain saw, or attend a rock concert.

Make (and Take) Antioxidants. Large amounts of superoxide dismutase, an antioxidant, helped prevent noise-related hearing damage in animal experiments. Your body makes superoxide dismutase; to ensure that you produce enough, take 15 to 30 mg of zinc and 15 mg of manganese daily. Taking antioxidant supplements can also reduce the risk of noise-induced deafness, according to studies. Take 25,000 IU of mixed carotenoids, 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin A (do not take more than 5,000 IU if you're pregnant or planning to be), 1 to 2 g of vitamin C, and 400 IU of natural vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) daily. The vitamin A and C doses are high because your body needs more of them when exposed to stress (like loud noise). Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) may also help stabilize hearing loss. Take 80 to 120 mg of ginkgo daily.

Nix Nutrient Deficiencies. People with age-related hearing impairment have been shown to have 40 percent lower levels of vitamin [B.sub.12] and 30 percent lower levels of folic acid compared to those with normal hearing. To stabilize hearing, take a daily B complex that has at least 400 mcg of [B.sub.12] and 400 mcg of folic acid. Studies have also connected a vitamin D deficiency with chronic hearing loss, so take 400 IU daily.

Cut Out Cow's Milk. Occasionally, I have found that partially deaf patients who completely avoided dairy products and other foods containing whey, like luncheon meats and puddings, returned their hearing to normal. Researchers found high amounts of a protein molecule identical to one in cow's milk in the cochleae (hearing organs) of 89 percent of patients with age-related hearing loss, while people with normal hearing had none, according to a 1994 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Can Pills Enhance My Bust?

I feel inadequate about my size AA breasts. Do bust-enhancing supplements that contain herbs like black cohosh, dong quai, and saw palmetto work?

ADRIANE FUGH-BERMAN, M.D., REPLIES: To treat your concern that a body part doesn't meet society's standards, I recommend enhancing your self-esteem. Regularly meet with your friends to ridicule how media and corporations attempt to make women feel insecure. Support each other in refusing to buy these breast-enhancing pills.

That wasn't your question, of course. Do bust-enhancing supplements work? Probably not, but no clinical trial has been published on the subject.

Studies do show that some of the herbs these supplements commonly contain may have estrogenic effects, meaning they act like an estrogen. (Estrogen can increase breast size; some women notice this effect with birth control pills.) For example, hops, a common ingredient in these formulas, contains potent plant estrogens. A study in rats showed that fennel seeds, which some people think are estrogenic, increased the weight of the mammary glands.

But other herbs appearing in bust-enhancing pills do not act like estrogens. Dong quai doesn't seem to have an estrogenic effect. Clinical trials showed it had no influence on hot flashes, vaginal tissues, or the endometrium (the lining of the uterus), all of which respond to estrogen. While researchers used to think that black cohosh and saw palmetto had estrogenic effects, recent studies suggest that they do not. (Saw palmetto actually seems to be anti-estrogenic.)

If an herbal combination has a strong enough estrogenic effect to increase breast size, it may be strong enough to cause abnormal growth of cells in the uterus, a risk for uterine cancer. (Birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy prevent this effect by including progestins with their estrogens.) Abnormal breast cell growth is also a concern. I think it's a bad idea to use these bust-enhancing products. At least padded bras (or external silicone inserts) can't hurt you.

Help for Sluggish Digestion

My friend swears a European bitters formula has helped her digestion. Does it really work?

CAROLYN DEAN, M.D., N.D., REPLIES: Yes, bitters formulas really work. In a 1996 German study of 553 people with digestive disorders, 85 percent of those who took a daily bitters formula experienced overall relief from symptoms like gas pain, nausea, and constipation. Additionally, Europeans have taken them before meals to aid digestion for more than 2,000 years.

Usually bitters formulas include the bitter-tasting herbs artichoke leaf (Cynara scolymus), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), and gentian (Gentiana lutea). These bitter herbs stimulate your body's production of digestive juices including bile, hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes, and saliva. The juices help you break down food and absorb the nutrients in it. Bitter herbs also tone the smooth muscles in your gastrointestinal tract. All these actions help you digest food.