There has long been speculation that giving blood helps protect people from heart attacks and strokes.
Leukaemia is a form of cancer, when cells in bone marrow, which produce the blood’s immune cells as well as oxygen-carrying red blood cells, start multiplying out of control.
The immune cells of both groups had undergone genetic mutations, which tend to accrue in all parts of the body as people get older. “As cells divide, they acquire mutations – this is a natural process,” said lead researcher Dr Hector Huerga Encabo, an immunologist at The Francis Crick Institute in London.
While the findings need to be confirmed by further research, “it is a possibility that blood donation decreases the pre-leukaemia mutations”, said Dr Huerga Encabo. The work has been published in the medical journal, Blood.
But it now seems that frequent blood donations actually push bone marrow cells down a route of making more red blood cells instead of a cancerous pathway, said Dr Huerga Encabo.
“The study suggests that when people give blood on a really regular basis it does not lead to harmful genetic changes, and suggests the changes seen may lead to the production of more healthy red blood cells.
The new findings also support the results from a past Swedish study which found that blood donors experienced the most common kind of leukaemia, called AML, at a 15 per cent lower rate than people who rarely gave blood.
Heart attacks
Blood donation may also protect people from heart disease and strokes – perhaps by making the person’s remaining blood less prone to clotting.
A definite benefit of blood donation, however, happens with people who have a genetic condition called haemochromatosis, which causes raised iron levels. This can damage the liver, heart and joints and can cause premature death.
In the UK about 1 in 100 people are diagnosed with haemochromatosis but the real figure could be higher, as there is no screening for the condition. Among people who are newly diagnosed, a surprising number are regular blood donors, having unconsciously found that the procedure relieves their joint pains.
For those who receive a blood transfusion, however, for instance after surgery, childbirth or illnesses such as cancer, it can be life saving.
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