The life-saving act of giving blood may not only be beneficial to the patient but also to the donor, new research has suggested.
The NHS needs 4,300 blood donations a day to meet the needs of hospitals, for both emergencies and long-term treatments. However, these donations could also be cutting the risk of several diseases for the person giving blood.
Frequently giving blood encourages the body to produce fresh blood cells – contributing to healthier and more resilient blood cells.
That’s according to scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who found that regularly donating blood could lead to a subtle genetic change which reduces the risk of developing blood cancers.
Normally, blood-forming stem cells mutate as we age, which in some cases can increase the of diseases, including leukaemia – a type of blood cancer that affects around 10,000 Britons every year.
However, a study published in the journal Blood identified a surprising difference in the blood of people who regularly donated.
Researchers compared the blood from two groups of healthy male donors – one group donated blood three times a year for 40 years, and the other only donated five times in total.
Although both groups had a similar number of genetic mutations, almost 50 per cent of the group that donated three times a year carried a mutation not linked to cancer. That’s in comparison to just 30 per cent of the group that donated less.
Researchers suggested that each time a person gives blood, the body produces fresh blood cells, which can alter stem cells in a beneficial way.
In laboratory experiments, the blood mutations seen in the men who gave blood were different to those associated with leukaemia.
Researchers injected the stem cells from frequent donors and found they were more effective at producing red blood cells than the stem cells from those who did not donate as frequently.
But further research is needed to determine whether donating blood actively reduces cancer risk.
Michelle Spear, professor of anatomy at the University of Bristol, explained to The Conversation: “Each time a person donates blood the body quickly begins the process of replacing lost blood cells, triggering the bone marrow to generate fresh ones. This natural renewal process may contribute to healthier, more resilient blood cells over time.”
Previous research has also linked donating blood to a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Professor Spear added that research suggests blood donation can increase insulin sensitivity, potentially reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Regular blood donation could also help to reduce blood viscosity – how thick the blood is. This can make it easier for the heart to pump blood around the body and lower the risk of cardiovascular problems, explained Adam Taylor, professor of anatomy at Lancaster University.
Donating blood “definitely has health benefits for the donor”, Professor Taylor told The Independent.
“As the study shows removing cells from the body by giving blood reduces the risk of mutations accumulating and causing disease,” he added.
However, he suggested another reason why donating blood has health benefits is because every time you give blood you are given a mini health screening. As a result, conditions including infectious diseases are picked up earlier.
Dr Lise Estcourt, NHS Blood and Transplant Medical Director for Transfusion, said: “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.
“Further work is needed to know whether donation causes the beneficial genetic changes or whether we are only seeing the ‘healthy donor effect’, where donors tend to be healthier than average because healthier people tend to donate.
“The ‘healthy donor effect’ makes it difficult to study donor health generally. However, the most important thing is that people chose to donate to improve the health of others.”