8 replies to this topic

[eternaltraveler]

What effects occur to the blood donor from donating on a regular basis?

[Pablo M]

Iron control, for one. According to Bill Sardi this is a good thing.

[frank_b]

I give blood regularly, never had a problem. Only precautions I take are not to workout on the same day and to make sure I keep my bllod sugar levels up before and after (one of the few times I deliberatly consume refined carbs).

[Jacovis]

Paul Wakfer, a real powerhouse in the life extension world, seems to have reasons for not donating blood. See his post late last year from usenet pasted in below...


http://groups.google...donation wakfer

jc101 (October 21, 2007):
"...Then when you add in removal of the stored iron in hemosiderin and paracrystalline iron (by regular blood donation) that has built up over a lifetime causing oxidative stress (and lipofuscin production), one can end up with some darn clean cells..."

Paul Wakfer (October 21, 2007):
"...I used to agree with this and for some years regularly donated blood
for this purpose, to help others and to contribute so that blood was
available if I ever needed a transfusion. I do not do this any more
for several reasons:

1) my hemoglobin and ferritin levels were already sufficiently low.
2) Iron is a major necessary mineral required by the body to function
well
3) Iron seems to become depleted in the body with age
4) Donating blood also removes perfectly good white bloods cells which
then need to be regenerated and some of which are part of the body's
immunity that has been acquired from past infections. For many
reasons, I don't think that it is a good idea to continually deplete
these white blood cells..."

[Shepard]

Paul Wakfer, a real powerhouse in the life extension world, seems to have reasons for not donating blood. See his post late last year from usenet pasted in below...

His reasons seem mostly because of his age and lifestyle than truly being against blood donation.

[mitkat]

Paul Wakfer, a real powerhouse in the life extension world, seems to have reasons for not donating blood. See his post late last year from usenet pasted in below...


http://groups.google...donation wakfer

jc101 (October 21, 2007):
"...Then when you add in removal of the stored iron in hemosiderin and paracrystalline iron (by regular blood donation) that has built up over a lifetime causing oxidative stress (and lipofuscin production), one can end up with some darn clean cells..."

Paul Wakfer (October 21, 2007):
"...I used to agree with this and for some years regularly donated blood
for this purpose, to help others and to contribute so that blood was
available if I ever needed a transfusion. I do not do this any more
for several reasons:

1) my hemoglobin and ferritin levels were already sufficiently low.
2) Iron is a major necessary mineral required by the body to function
well
3) Iron seems to become depleted in the body with age
4) Donating blood also removes perfectly good white bloods cells which
then need to be regenerated and some of which are part of the body's
immunity that has been acquired from past infections. For many
reasons, I don't think that it is a good idea to continually deplete
these white blood cells..."

Hmmm...can't say I'm terribly shocked or impressed at his reasons. I agree with Shep that it's mostly age oriented however. I'm 26 yr old vegetarian and have moderate level of iron...can't imagine what some people's are like. I am big proponent of donating blood and stem cells and see no reason to do it if you're healthy (as so many of us imminsters are).

[Mind]

Most people have a diet that is way too high in iron (the typical western diet with a lot of meat), so I think donating blood would be beneficial.

[lucid]

There have been 2 major studies on the effect of blood donation:
One study on finish men:

n the 24 months before the baseline examinations 153 (5.7%) of the 2682 participants had donated blood. During follow up, one (0.7%) of the donors experienced an acute myocardial infarction compared with 226 (9.8%) of the 2529 non-donors (P<0.001 for difference). Table 1) shows that, in a multivariate model adjusted for the main coronary risk factors, the blood donors' risk of acute myocardial infarction was 86% less than that of the non-donors (relative risk 0.14, 95% confidence interval 0.02 to 0.97, P=0.047). Additional adjustment for a large number of measurements of medical history, health state, health practices, and psychosocial characteristics attenuated this association only marginally.

http://www.bmj.com/c...ll/314/7083/793

The other done at Kansas University Medical Center:

Researchers at the Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City have found that non-smoking men who donated blood had a 30% reduced risk for cardiovascular events such as heart attack, bypass, and stroke than non-donors. Findings were published on August 27 in the British journal Heart.
Included in the study were 3,855 participants in the Nebraska Diet Heart Survey. Subjects were a minimum of 40 years old, with no history of heart disease at the study's outset. Seven to eight years later, in 1992 or 1993, researchers contacted the group to determine whether any participants had died, donated blood, or experienced cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, chest pain, angioplasty, or bypass. Six hundred fifty five subjects had been blood donors and 3,200 subjects had not donated blood.
Non-smoking men who had donated blood within the last three years of the survey experienced the greatest benefit: a 30% reduced risk of having a heart attack or experiencing other cardiovascular events.

http://www.physician....com/blood.html

Of course you don't want to be iron deficient, but donating twice a year seems pretty safe to me. Ideally we would want to donate enough to keep our iron levels at lower end of normal once we have stopped growing.

[edward]

Paul Wakfer:

1) my hemoglobin and ferritin levels were already sufficiently low.
2) Iron is a major necessary mineral required by the body to function
well
3) Iron seems to become depleted in the body with age
4) Donating blood also removes perfectly good white bloods cells which
then need to be regenerated and some of which are part of the body's
immunity that has been acquired from past infections. For many
reasons, I don't think that it is a good idea to continually deplete
these white blood cells..."

His 1-3 I don't think apply to me as a 30 year old male not on calorie restriction. His number 4 does bring up some interesting points about wbcs and humeral immunity and the fact that frequent blood donations may decrease your body's acquired defenses against past exposures and vaccines. Interesting theory.