**Caffeine and Meniere's Disease**

Alleluia Lima Losno Ledesma, Monique Antunes de Souza Chelminski Barreto and Carlos Augusto Costa Pires de Oliveira

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69667

#### **Abstract**

Meniere's disease is characterized by recurrent vertigo, fluctuating hearing loss, and persistent tinnitus. Caffeine consumption in modern society is a widespread and culturally accepted habit; however, there is no consensus about its mechanism of action in various organs and systems, including the auditory and vestibular. The few clinical studies have shown that abstention from caffeine has little effect in patients with Meniere's disease, both in relation to vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss.

**Keywords:** caffeine, vertigo, Meniere's diseases, tinnitus, vestibular disease

#### **1. Introduction**

Caffeine consumption in modern society is a widespread and culturally accepted habit and sets up the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world. It is found in a variety of products such as coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, mate, guarana powder, slimming drugs, diuretics, stimulants, painkillers, and anti‐allergics [1, 2].

The effects of caffeine have been investigated for a long time; however, there is still no consensus on the effect of this substance in the body [1]. Its action and its effect on the body are still controversial in the scientific literature. They are described as benefits the improvement of cognitive and psychomotor performance, alertness, attention span, attention, and memory; enhances visual and auditory vigilance; and decreases sleepiness and fatigue [3]. It also describes that it may cause tachycardia, increased gastric secretion, diuresis, increased levels of fatty acids in the plasma, cerebral vascular constriction, and dilation system of the other vessels of the body when in high doses [1].

Meniere's disease is a clinical syndrome that affects the inner ear, and it is characterized by episodes of spontaneous vertigo, usually associated with unilateral fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), tinnitus, and aural fullness [4]. It is believed that there is an association between the use or caffeine abstention with complaints of vertigo and tinnitus. However, the evidence supporting this claim is conflicting and sparse [5, 6].
