Chronic dizziness and imbalance, which can significantly impact an individual's quality of life and even mortality, are prevalent conditions with multifactorial etiologies, including inflammation. We examined the association between dietary inflammatory potential and chronic dizziness with imbalance.
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
While this observational association is hypothesis-generating, audiologists and vestibular specialists may note diet as a potential modifiable factor worth discussing with patients experiencing chronic dizziness, pending confirmatory evidence.
If dietary inflammation is confirmed as a modifiable contributor to chronic dizziness, it could support a lifestyle-medicine approach to vestibular rehabilitation and prevention.
- 01Nationally representative data used to examine diet-dizziness associations in middle-aged and older adults.
- 02Higher dietary inflammation index scores were associated with increased odds of chronic dizziness with imbalance.
- 03Study design is cross-sectional/observational; causality cannot be established.
- 04Published in Journal of Korean Medical Science (2026); PMID 42901495.
- 05Findings are relevant to multidisciplinary management of vestibular disorders.
A more pro-inflammatory diet is associated with higher prevalence of chronic dizziness and imbalance in middle-aged and older adults.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42901495
- DOI
- 10.3346/jkms.2026.41.e257.
- Journal
- Journal of Korean Medical Science
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Middle-aged and older adults from a nationally representative population sample
- Intervention
- Dietary inflammation index (measure of pro-inflammatory dietary patterns)
- Comparator
- Lower dietary inflammation index scores
Primary outcomes
Prevalence of chronic dizziness with imbalance