{"id":441,"date":"2015-11-09T17:08:02","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T17:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshmitteldorf.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=441"},"modified":"2015-11-09T18:55:20","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T18:55:20","slug":"does-donating-blood-extend-your-life-expectancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2015\/11\/09\/does-donating-blood-extend-your-life-expectancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Does donating blood extend your life expectancy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I came upon a <\/span><\/i>1998 study<\/span><\/i><\/a> finding that the risk of heart attack was 18 times lower in people who donate blood, compared to a matched sample of people who don\u2019t. \u00a0I ran out to my local Red Cross Blood Drive, and then came home for some follow-up reading. \u00a0The consensus from a handful of studies on blood donation seems to be far less dramatic, but still worth considering.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n

Hippocrates thought that women purged blood every month to release their toxic humors, and that men might benefit from an artificially-induced version of menstruation. \u00a0From ancient times until the 19th centuries, bloodletting was a common medical procedure. \u00a0Leeches were \u00a0prescribed for a wide range of ailments. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bloodletting was thought to be beneficial in healing nearly every disease, from acne and asthma, to cancer and smallpox. Even the loss of blood from a wound was treated by\u2026removing more blood! Bloodletting the already-wounded was thought to reduce inflammation (which is why it was employed prior to surgery as well). Bloodletting wasn\u2019t limited to curing disease either, but was also used as a preventive measure to avoid getting sick.<\/span> [<\/span>source<\/span><\/a>] <\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Modern medical wisdom dismisses these ancient, barbaric practices as fraud, mountebankery and snake oil. \u00a0But like most medical practices that stood the test of time (if not epemiology), this one held a core of truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Don’t let your barber do this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For centuries, the local barber not only offered close shaves and sharp haircuts, but also provided medical services including bloodletting. In fact, the iconic barbershop pole with its two brass balls and red and white stripes is a vestige of the days when barbers would slit customers\u2019 arms to relieve their ailments.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Epidemiology of Blood Donation<\/b><\/p>\n

The raw statistics are quite promising. \u00a0Here is a <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> that found occasionally donating blood (every three years) is associated with a 50% drop in cardiovascular disease in men. \u00a0<\/span>This study<\/span><\/a> finds a 40% reduction in cardiovascular risk, after adjusting for other differences between donor and non-donor groups. These [<\/span>ref1<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>ref2<\/span><\/a>] looked at short-term benefits for blood lipid profiles studies following blood donation. \u00a0These two studies [<\/span>ref1<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>ref2<\/span><\/a>] found a slightly lower risk of cancer in blood donors. \u00a0In a large study of US blood donors, <\/span>this study<\/span><\/a> found a 30% lower rate for all-cause mortality. \u00a0This <\/span>large Italian study<\/span><\/a> found a modest decrease in overall mortality among blood donors.<\/span><\/p>\n

These were balanced with other studies that found <\/span>slightly higher cardiovascular risk<\/span><\/a> among frequent blood donors, and several [<\/span>review<\/span><\/a>] that uncovered no benefit. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Healthy Donor Effect<\/b><\/p>\n

It is an obvious point that <\/span>unhealthy people don\u2019t respond to blood drives<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0How much of the statistical association with lower health risks is merely self-selection, and how much is <\/span>causal<\/i><\/b>? \u00a0Here is a <\/span>current study<\/span><\/a> claiming that the unadjusted benefit is 18%, and the residual benefit after accounting for the \u201chealthy donor effect\u201d amounts to 7%. \u00a0These percentages represent reduction in mortality rate for each additional annual blood donation. \u00a0Based on this unimpeachable source, I have decided to give blood exactly 14.3 times each year, thereby reducing my risk of dying to zero.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Iron<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m old enough to remember Jack Barry on the B&W TV, the merits of Geritol for \u201ctired blood\u201d — a description of anemia that was intended to suggest that low iron was the primary culprit in an epidemic of chronic fatigue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Jack Barry on the quiz show, “Twenty-One”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Geritol was advertised as an iron supplement. \u00a0Today\u2019s epidemiology recognizes that anemia is far less common that the opposite, and that too much iron is a risk factor for heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer\u2019s. \u00a0(Geritol is <\/span>still sold today<\/span><\/a>, but its formula has less iron \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern thinking is that, yes, anemia might limit stamina or even cause fatigue, but people who eat meat and who don\u2019t carry a gene for hemochromatosis<\/a>\u00a0are unlikely to be iron-deficient. \u00a0When iron is in short supply, the body can readily increase its absorption. \u00a0But the body cannot easily remove excess iron, thus excess iron accumulates in the liver. \u00a0In fact, too much iron is about four times more common than too little iron in a sample of people over 50 [<\/span>ref<\/span><\/a>]. \u00a0The consequences of too little iron are short-term, but the too much iron is a risk factor for chronic disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

The best-established health risk from too much iron is elevated incidence of diabetes [<\/span>ref1<\/span><\/a>, \u00a0<\/span>ref2<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>ref3<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>ref4<\/span><\/a>]. \u00a0Insulin resistance, in turn, is associated with higher risk of all the diseases of old age. \u00a0But several studies have found only a weak relationship between excess iron and <\/span>cancer<\/span><\/a> or mortality risk [<\/span>ref1<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>ref2<\/span><\/a>]. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hormesis<\/b><\/p>\n

Instinct tells me that lower iron is not the only benefit, or even the main benefit from blood donation. \u00a0First, the body can quickly recover iron lost to blood donation by dialing up the absorption from dietary sources. \u00a0The effect on the body\u2019s iron stores is likely to be short-term. \u00a0Second, the evidence for association between high iron and high disease risk is actually weaker than the evidence for benefit from blood donation. \u00a0So my guess is that this is a hormetic effect. \u00a0Blood donation is like exercise or a low-calorie diet or low-dose toxins or radiation: it signals to the body that there is danger, which turns on protective mechanisms that go into high gear and overcompensate. \u00a0(There is an <\/span>evolutionary explanation<\/span><\/a> for the overcompensation.) <\/span><\/p>\n

Social and emotional factors have a dominant influence on longevity. \u00a0It is often overlooked, but connectedness with others, sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, healthy loving relationships are all powerfully correlated with\u00a0health and life expectancy. \u00a0Giving blood may be an indicator of pro-social attitudes that prefigure longevity, or it may be an active pursuit of a pro-social behavior that promotes longevity through psychological pathways.<\/p>\n

My experience<\/b><\/p>\n

For several years, Valter Longo has been expounding a theory that an <\/span>extended fast can reset the immune system<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0The data on blood donation suggested to me that something similar was happening, and that there might be synergistic benefit from combining a fast with blood donation. I have been doing Longo\u2019s <\/span>5-day Fasting-Mimicking Diet<\/span><\/a> every 4-6 weeks, and it happened that I was FMD-ing when I first read about the benefits of blood donation last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

I found a <\/span>Red Cross blood drive<\/span><\/a> on the last day of my FMD within 5 miles of my house. \u00a0I chose discretion over valor, and drove out there rather than deploying the bicycle which is my habitual mode of transit. \u00a0It had been several years since I have given blood, but I could hardly be surprised that there was 40 minutes of paperwork the Red Cross asked me to read and sign. \u00a0Reasons for exclusion include not just infectious diseases but travel \u00a0to many regions of the world, intravenous drug use (ever), homosexual activity (ever), cancer (ever), several congenital diseases\u2026.I started to feel nervous that they would ask whether I had been on a semi-fast for 5 days, or discover that I hadn\u2019t had a meal in almost 22 hours. \u00a0They didn\u2019t ask anything of the sort, and I was able to answer all the questions truthfully. \u00a0When I had trouble raising the thermometer above 96 degrees and my blood pressure read out at 85\/60, they asked if this was usual for me. \u00a0I offered the excuse that \u201dI am a marathon runner\u201d, which is a stretch. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Red Cross is strict about the rules, but they really do want our blood. \u00a0So I slipped through, stretched out on the table and offered up my left arm. \u00a0The procedure itself took only 15 minutes, and went off without a problem. \u00a0No light-headedness or weakness–I got up afterward and walked out, hungry and more than ready to re-feed myself after 5 days of minimalist fare. \u00a0I might have bicycled after all.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I came upon a 1998 study finding that the risk of heart attack was 18 times lower in people who donate blood, compared to a matched sample of people who don\u2019t. \u00a0I ran out to my local Red Cross Blood Drive, and then came home for some follow-up reading. \u00a0The consensus from a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes donating blood extend your life expectancy? - Josh Mitteldorf<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2015\/11\/09\/does-donating-blood-extend-your-life-expectancy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does donating blood extend your life expectancy?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week I came upon a 1998 study finding that the risk of heart attack was 18 times lower in people who donate blood, compared to a matched sample of people who don\u2019t. \u00a0I ran out to my local Red Cross Blood Drive, and then came home for some follow-up reading. \u00a0The consensus from a ... 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\\\/\\\/mathforum.org\\\/~josh\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/AgingAdvice.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/author\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does donating blood extend your life expectancy? - Josh Mitteldorf","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2015\/11\/09\/does-donating-blood-extend-your-life-expectancy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Does donating blood extend your life expectancy?","og_description":"Last week I came upon a 1998 study finding that the risk of heart attack was 18 times lower in people who donate blood, compared to a matched sample of people who don\u2019t. \u00a0I ran out to my local Red Cross Blood Drive, and then came home for some follow-up reading. \u00a0The consensus from a ... 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. 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