# Mushrooms as Functional Foods for Meniere's Disease
## 3 Meniere's Disease and Brain Function  
Understandably, available research on cognitive function in Meniere's disease (MD) human patients is quite limited. Cognitive function, hearing thresholds, emotional stress, and speech discrimination scores were recently studied in patients using detailed neuropsychological tests to measure how well a person's brain is working [67].  
No gold standard diagnostic test for [PERSON]'s disease exists. MD is distinguished by discontinuous events of vertigo, fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and the feeling of fullness and stuffiness in the ear (aural pressure), while some consider that it could be a migraine-related phenomenon [68].  
Vestibular dysfunction is considered a likely adjustable risk factor for cognitive decline [69] on occasions combined with \"brain fog\" in the form of dullness, difficulty concentrating, poor memory, or confusion [70]. In MD patients, anxiety, depression, panic, and dyssomnia may arbitrate the link between vestibule dysfunction and cognition [71].  
This is observed namely in Meniere's Disease chronic vestibular syndromes and migraine-associated dizziness, when compared to acute spinning vertigo such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) [72]. The same vulnerability to derangements in homeostasis may also explain the common triggering factors of both MD attacks and migraine headaches, including stress, weather, and diet. Therefore, different foods and nutrients may assist in maintaining a metabolic balance, which is essential to both maintain energy homeostasis and prevent MD and neurological disorders [73]. The outlook was further complicated when hearing loss was recognized as a risk factor for dementia, widening the spectrum of negative consequences [74].  
There are still no studies aimed at matching cognitive performance and multiple clinical features of these MD patients, or on whether mental personality changes could be protected or improved after successful treatment [75]. Recent studies with some 500 patients confirm a possible link between late-onset MD and an increased incidence of all-cause dementia, where the loss of hearing and vestibular function emerged as an important risk factor for senile mental illness [76].  
Despite few claims [76], to date, the relationship between MD and dementia, including Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, has not yet been clarified. The absence of research and data in this field is justified by the lack of neurotologist experts and work being performed by general neurologists [77].  
The clinical grading of tinnitus severity (ringing, rustling, or buzzing sound) has brought renewed hope to the treatment or prevention of auditory neurodegeneration. However, a correct diagnosis of the underlying vestibular disorder is necessary and new techniques to diagnose these disorders have been developed, where machine learning methods have the potential to perform better than clinical scores [78; 79].  
The goal of this review is to provide clues about how mushroom nutritional studies may help to better understand the tight relationship between food, metabolic balance, MD, brain activity, and aging.