“Donating blood at least four times a year may help to prevent heart attacks by lowering blood cholesterol levels significantly and reducing iron levels. Iron in the bloodstream converts LDL cholesterol to oxidized LDL, which forms plaques in arteries,”

You need iron. Iron makes your blood work. If you have excessive iron, that may lead to other problems, but I seriously doubt that you will have any *permanent* drop in iron levels by donating 4 times a year. And to say that dropping iron levels prevents heart attacks because iron oxidizes LDL is a gross overstatement of what is happening in your blood stream, and smacks of the 3-line cause-and-effect articles in Shape, Men’s Health, and (unfortunately now) RW. By this logic, we should all be heading out for blood-letting 3 times a week to remove all that heart-attack-causing iron from our bodies. Welcome to 1700’s medicine.

Likewise, any small drop in cholesterol will be quickly adjusted by your liver to bring you back to wherever you were before. Your body isn’t going to suddenly change its cholesterol making habits just because it lost some blood.

Donate blood because it saves someone else’s life. My wife needed blood while she was in the hospital, and we are very thankful someone donated. I donate whenever I can and am slowly approaching my thirteenth gallon. Its the right thing to do.

One year ago I had routine surgery to have my gallbladder removed. The surgery was done laproscopically and I was sent home the next day. A week later (February 28th, 2006) I was back in the hospital, weak, and slowly bleeding to death internally. It seems that during the normal course of my surgery my aorta was punctured and I had developed a Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.

I was lucky. I got fixed up (a stent was placed in my aorta) and I survived – but not before requiring MULTIPLE blood transfusions.

So – to all of you who donate blood – I thank you and my wife and three kids thank you too. You saved my life.

Aaron

Mark, I wasn’t able to find what percentage of the Canadian population gives blood, but it’s probably about the same — and for the same reasons.

http://justyouraveragejoggler......ate-blood/

Years ago, I used to donate regularly. I have O+ blood – I’m a universal donor (anyone can take my blood). They used to have me on a call back list to come in every 12 weeks.

But I’ve never given while marathon training. I think I’ll avoid that till I’m not on that kind of schedule.

Thanks for this, Anne.

It is something that I think about each year, but I never wind up being able to actually go through with it for one reason or another. My “off-season” is usually a few weeks after each marathon when I ramp up my weight lifting regimens.