Meniere's and the Atkins diet

In January 2003, I requested input from readers of this page with Meniere's disease with regard to whether they had tried the Atkins (low carbohydrate) diet. If they had tried the diet, I wanted to know if it had influenced their Meniere's symptoms.

During the period from January to April 2003, I received e-mail from 37 individuals who responded to my enquiry.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who responded. I appreciate your input and I hope this summary page will be of interest to you all.

Second, I have to caution you that the results shown here must be regarded as "non-scientific", as the respondees do not represent the Meniere's patient population as a whole. Nevertheless, they do give some indication of different patient's experiences with this diet.

From the e-mail I received, I classified each response into one of 5 categories, ranging from "Definitely better on the Atkins diet" to "Definitely worse on Atkins diet".  The results are shown in the graph below :- 

Of the 37 responses I received, 20 patients thought their symptoms were reduced on the Atkins diet,  9 definitely and 11 maybe .

Four patients reported no change in their symptoms.

Thirteen patients found that their symptoms were worse on the Atkins diet, 7 definitely and 6 maybe.

It appears that more patients found their symptoms were reduced on Atkins, than found their symptoms worse (20 vs. 13). However, the fact that 13 patients reported worse symptoms means that the Atkins diet cannot be recommended as helpful for all patients.

Some of the comments people made included:-

1) I started the Atkins diet on Dec. 30, 2002.  I went into the diet in the midst of a 3 week bout of fullness, mild vertigo etc. episode.  By day 8-9 on the diet I noticed the symptoms becoming less and by day 16 symptoms had dissipated. 

2) I have stayed pretty much close to the Atkins diet. I have gone from 180lbs to 164lbs in two months. Also, previously i have not gone over two weeks without an episode of menires. Up until this week it has been over 45 days since my last episode.

3)  I have been on the Atkins diet for about one month and notice that the tinnitus, which has been very bad for the past 30 years, is much less bothersome and hardly even noticeable.  I wondered if others had a similar experience.  It is great!

4) I can say that I've had favorable results with the Atkins diet. The adjustment period has been minimal and the diet's natural diuretic tendencies have allowed the elimination of another medication. BTW, I lost 75 pounds.

5) .  I went on atkins for reasons that had nothing to do with  meniere's.  I have now been on it for 5 weeks, and besides losing about 15  pounds in a month, I notice tremendous improvement in my meniere's  symptoms.  the sense of fullness is gone entirely, the hearing in the ear  is far clearer than it has been for years (although the volume is still lower  than the good ear), and I have had absolutely no vertigo symptoms since being on  the diet.  January through early march is usually my worst time with  this disease, so the effect is remarkable.   

6) To me it's not so much the focussing on the Atkins diet as the elimination of  offending carbohydrates. In my case starches are the problem, sugars seem to be  okay. After being on a more protein diet for 3 months my ear problems are only  slightly evident, but the problems do return if I go on a starch binge.

7) I have been on the Atkins diet for ten days, and  have lost twelve pounds. On the ninth day I experienced severe dizziness  when I tried to get out of bed. 

8) I started the Atkins diet in the middle of December (12/18/02) and have lost 26 pounds to date.  However, the episodes did not stop while on the diet and I felt that they were occurring more often than original.  

9) I went on the [low]-carbohydrate diet about 3 years ago and still today, I watch my carbs but not as low as maintenance required.  I had no change in my Meniere's while I was  on the diet. Though now, I seem to be having more trouble with the hearing, I  don't think I can pin point it to carb restriction.

10) I noticed that the first 2-3 days I had balance  problems and attributed it to the change in blood sugar.  After I got going  I noticed it went away and I was pretty much symptom free unless I went off and  had to go through it again for a couple of days or drank an excessive amount of  caffeine or ate a  lot of salty nuts or other salty products in a short  period of time.

This last comment raises an important issue that a number of people mentioned, specifically the possible association of a change in salt intake with the Atkins diet. This would depend on exactly how the Atkins diet was implemented. If, under the Atkins diet, the individual eats less commercially prepared "junk foods", such as potato chips and crackers, and puts more emphasis on fresh vegetables and home-prepared meats, then it is possible that the Atkins diet would also result in a reduced sodium intake. If, on the other hand,  changing to the Atkins diet resulted in an increased consumption of  things like cheese, salted nuts and bacon, then salt consumption could be increased.

It is likley that these "undetermined" changes of salt intake could have contributed to different patient's responses to the Atkins diet. It is one of many variables that cannot be evaluated in a survey of this type.

However, I think is is logical to say that in order to minimize symptoms, the low-salt diet should take preference over the Atkins diet . If you do try the Atkins diet then also try to avoid salt consumption as well. For this you have to read the labels for both carbohydrate and sodium content.

I hope, like me, you have found this survey of interest.

Thank you all again, for your input.

Alec Salt, April 9, 2003

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