This is from Michael Eades:
Benefits from Blood Donation
MD and I both donated a unit of blood last week. As I’ve discussed in earlier issues of The Arrow, there are advantages to giving blood. One of the main ones is getting rid of excess iron, which most of us probably have…unless we live in some country where malnutrition reigns.
For most of our existence on the planet, humans have struggled to hold onto our iron. Prior to widespread sanitation, we were riddled with parasites, most of which consumed our iron. And we endured much more trauma than we do now, so that was another source of blood and iron loss. Consequently, we evolved methods of tightly hanging on to our iron.
Now that we’re parasite free and aren’t subject to the same degree of trauma, iron buildup can become problematic. So, it’s nice to get rid of it in a win-win way by donating blood periodically.
But there is yet another reason to give up your blood.
All of us have stored in our fat multiple pollutants of one sort of another. We’ve been exposed to these pesticides, herbicides, and God only knows what else for years. Many of them have been banned, so we’re not continuing to build up levels, but it’s almost impossible to get rid of those we still have stored.
Plus, there are always new ones coming on the market that will no doubt be considered harmful and some point in the future and banned. Most of these organic pollutants are fat soluble and get stored in our fat cells.
The human body is designed to cling on to fat. We have no way to get rid of it other than burning it off. But even burning it off leaves these persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with us as they’re simply picked up by other fat cells and remain in our bodies.
Over time, we can slowly get rid of them through sweat and even hair, in some cases. But it is a slow slog. And if we’re taking in more at the same time, it’s difficult to lower the overall total.
If we fast, our fat cells give up their fat. It goes into the circulation and is used by the cells for energy. When we eat, we add new fat to the blood stream, which ends up back in the fat cells along with other fats that might be circulating.
We can dump some of these POPs through the bile and other yet to be identified pathways into the small intestine. But unfortunately, they get picked back up again by the enterohepatic circulation and dumped back into the blood. As I wrote above, the human body loves its fat and wants to salvage as much of it as possible.
One way you can get rid of these POPs and other fat-soluble pollutants is to give blood regularly.
To get rid of the maximal amount, you need to fast overnight and right up till the moment you give the blood. That will assure the maximal concentration of POP-containing fat in your blood. You need to give whole blood, not just red blood cells. You need to drink plenty of water. You don’t want to be dehydrated, as that makes it more difficult for the phlebotomist to find a decent vein to plumb.
If you give blood regularly and follow the above instructions, you can slowly but surely reduce the burden of POPs.
But what about the people getting the blood you donate? Won’t they end up with the POPs themselves?
If I were in dire need of blood, the last thing I would worry about are the POPs that might be in the blood I got. I would just be happy to get it. Plus, anyone who has lost a unit of blood requiring replacement has already lost an equivalent amount of POPs, so basically they are just getting a replacement, not an extra dose.