Alright – terrible joke to start the post – but today I have learned about the difference between blood type AND the benefits of donating blood. Here are the things I know – I am O+ blood type, it is good to donate blood - especially for me as I am the ‘universal donor’ (at least that is what I thought), and in college I used to donate plasma cause you can make cash doing it but that was never really all that profitable for me cause I have low iron and my blood clots quickly – meaning donating sometimes causes me to faint and if my hydration level is not high enough I will never be able to donate a whole bag of blood (which turns out they cannot use a half full bag – lesson learned in college station tx one day). Anyways – back to today – when I was googleing around after I had a morning conversation about blood types and didn’t quite know the all the answers (yea – it was a real exciting time to be me this morning I know). So here we go…
Blood types: Also called a blood group is a classification of blood based on the presence of absence of inheritied antigenic substances [these antigen are substance/molecules that trigger ther production of an antibody by the immune system (thank you wikipedia word links)] that occur on the surface of the red blood cells. Being blood group O here is what wikipedia says about my blood group:
Blood group O (or blood group zero in some countries) individuals do not have either A or B antigens on the surface of their RBCs, but their blood serum contains IgM anti-A and anti-B antibodies against the A and B blood group antigens. Therefore, a group O individual can receive blood only from a group O individual, but can donate blood to individuals of any ABO blood group (i.e., A, B, O or AB). If anyone needs a blood transfusion in an emergency, and if the time taken to process the recipient’s blood would cause a detrimental delay, O Negative blood can be issued.
Also here is a handy table about the compatibility of red blood cells:
Blood Donation Benefits: So then with all this knowledge of blood types – and who can donate to who to save who’s life…why should you get stuck with a needle. Well acccording to HealthMad the benefits of donating blood is in the iron.
Blood donation removes some of the excess iron which can cause free radical formation in the body. In fact, studies have shown that men who donate blood on a regular basis have a lower risk of heart disease. With heart disease being the number one cause of death in males, this is, indeed, an important health benefit of donating blood.
