How your blood type can affect your health

YOUR BLOOD type is important when it comes to donating blood or receiving a transfusion, but did you also know it may make you more or less likely to have certain diseases? Generally, knowing your blood type is not necessary unless there is a medical emergency involving blood loss. However, you could actually be missing out on important health clues by not knowing your blood type.

Research has shown that blood type can influence your risk for a myriad of health conditions, from heart and vascular diseases to thinking and memory problems.

Blood type, like eye colour, is inherited from your parents. There are eight common blood types, along with many rare ones. Blood type is determined by which antigens are present in your blood. Antigens are molecules that induce an immune response if they are foreign to a body. There are four major blood groups:

• Group A – Has the A antigen on red blood cells

• Group B – Has the B antigen on red blood cells

• Group AB – Has both A and B antigens on red blood cells

• Group O – Has no antigens on red blood cells

These four groups expand to eight types with the presence (+) or absence (-) of a protein called the Rh factor. The eight types are A+, A-, B+, B-, AB+, AB-, O+, and O-. O negative blood is the universal blood type, meaning it can be given in emergency transfusions to individuals with any of the eight types of blood. This is due to the absence of antigens in O blood, and the fact that Rh-negative blood can also be given to people with Rh-positive blood.

IMPORTANT TO KNOW TYPE

Knowing your blood type is important in case of an emergency situation requiring a blood transfusion. Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study that showed that people with A, B, or AB blood types are at a greater risk of developing coronary heart disease than people with blood type O. Research has also shown that non-O blood groups have a 60 to 80 per cent higher risk of developing dangerous blood clots, and are also at a greater risk for inflammation.

Another study done by the University of Vermont showed that people with AB blood were 82 per cent more likely than any other blood type to develop thinking or memory problems that leading to dementia.

Researchers believe that because blood type is related to vascular issues, that could be what contributes to memory problems. Other studies have shown that people with blood type A have a higher risk of gastric cancer, while people with blood type O are more likely to develop a peptic ulcer.

Knowing your blood type can be an important piece of information, not only for emergencies, but also to help steer you in a direction to make certain lifestyle changes to avoid blood type-related health conditions.

You may also consider donating blood, especially if you have type O blood, which is routinely in short supply and high demand.

While just how blood type influences certain diseases and health conditions remains unclear in many instances, emerging evidence leaves little doubt that your blood type does matter in terms of health risks.

However, it is important to realise that an increased risk of certain health conditions does not indicate that you will certainly develop them. For instance, if you have risk factors that double your chances of a disease that the average person has a one per cent chance of developing, your risk is still just two per cent.

Any increased risk of serious health conditions is something to be aware of for the sake of prevention and or early detection and treatment, so knowing the issues associated with your blood type is important. Of course, that means knowing your blood type, fortunately, finding out is easy with a simple blood test, and you don’t necessarily have to see a doctor to have it done.

No matter your health status or your stage of life, understanding your blood type is essential. After all, your blood type is not necessarily identical to that of your partner, your parents, or your children. You and your loved ones could each have one of eight different blood types, each of which contain antigens that may make it incompatible with others.

Fortunately, a simple test can indicate your blood type, revealing clues about your health, providing critical information before a medical procedure, and even telling you how valuable you are as a blood donor.

keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com

SOURCE: Harvard School of Public Health, University of Vermont