How Blood Type Affects Your Health

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ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Does it seem that mosquitos are just attracted to you? It turns out — they could be. A study in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that one type of mosquito landed on 83 percent of the patients with type O blood and just 47 percent of people with type A blood. Scientists believe mosquitos may be able to sense the sugars some people secrete through their skin based on their blood type. It turns out, that’s not the only thing your blood type could make you more or less susceptible to.

The type of blood you have running through your veins can impact your chances of getting cancer, having a stroke or catching COVID!

Brian Rini, MD, Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University says, “Different blood types have different antigens on the surface of the red blood cells.”

A study out of the New England Journal of Medicine found that people with type A had a 45 percent increased risk of getting COVID. Type O was 35 percent less likely.

If you have type O, research from Harvard shows you’re less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. But those with A, B, and AB have a nine percent increased risk for both.  Experts believe it’s because O’s tend to have lower cholesterol and lower amounts of a protein that’s linked to clotting.

A study from the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology found Type B’s were 59 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer.

French researchers analyzed data from 82-thousand people and found women with type A blood were 10 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and those with type B were 21 percent more likely to develop the disease.

Also, some memory problems may be linked to blood type. A study in the Journal of Neurology, found that type AB blood had an 82 percent higher risk of cognitive impairment.

Understanding how your blood type impacts your health.

Researchers in Japan strongly believe that the blood type influences personality, weaknesses, and strengths. They say people with type A blood are calm and collected, artistic, and polite; people with type B blood are practical, goal-oriented, and strong-willed; people with type O blood are outgoing, energetic, and outspoken; and people with type AB blood tend to have characteristics on both sides of the spectrum.

Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor.

Sources:

https://academic.oup.com/jme/article/41/4/796/885285

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7276013/

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/qi-blood-type-heart-disease-risk/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4993100/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-014-3472-9?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&CJEVENT=6544616206bc11ed810504b30a1c0e0c&utm_campaign=CONR_BOOKS_ECOM_GL_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100021328&?utm_medium=affiliate

KNOW YOUR A, B & O’S:  HOW BLOOD TYPES AFFECT YOUR HEALTH

REPORT #3000

BACKGROUND: Human blood falls into four different blood groups: A, B, AB and O. Your blood also has what is known as an Rh factor: It either contains a certain protein or it doesn’t. (This is the positive [+] or negative [-] after your blood type.) The possible combinations create eight different blood types: A+, A-, B+, B-,  AB+, AB-, O+ and O-. Thirty-two percent of the population are A+, six percent are A-, 11 percent are B+, two percent are B-, four percent are AB+, one percent is AB-, 39 percent are O+, and seven percent are O-.

(Source: https://www.vitalant.org/different-blood-types)

DIAGNOSIS: A phlebotomist (someone trained to draw blood) will use a needle to draw blood from your arm or hand at your doctor’s office, a clinical laboratory, or a hospital. The typical method for typing blood involves two steps, forward typing and reverse typing. The first step is called “forward typing.” Your blood cells are mixed with antibodies against type A and B blood, and the sample is checked to see whether the blood cells stick together (agglutinate). If blood cells stick together, it means your blood cells reacted with one of the antibodies. The second step is called “back typing” or “reverse typing.” The liquid part of your blood without red blood cells (serum) is mixed with blood cells that are known to be type A and type B. People with type A blood have antibodies against Type B blood (“anti-B antibodies”) in their serum, and those with type B blood have antibodies against Type A blood (“anti-A antibodies”) in their serum. Type O blood contains both anti-A and anti-B antibodies.

(Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-find-out-your-blood-type#blood-testing)

NEW REGULATIONS: The need to first zero in on a blood group can delay blood transfusions in emergency situations, and this in turn can prove fatal. Thus, to speed up the process, a team of scientists from Tokyo University of Science, Japan, has developed a lab-on-a-chip device that can not only tell the blood type within five minutes but allows medical staff to read the results through simple visual inspections. The chip contains a micro-sized “laboratory” with various compartments through which the blood sample travels in sequence and is processed until results are obtained. To start the process, a user simply inserts a small amount of blood, presses a button, and waits for the result. Inside the chip, the blood is first diluted with a saline solution and air bubbles are introduced to promote mixing. The diluted blood is transported to a homogenizer where further mixing, driven by more intensely moving bubbles, yields a uniform solution. Portions of the homogenized blood solution are introduced into four different detector chambers. Two chambers each contain reagents that can detect either A antigens or B antigens. A third chamber contains reagents that detect D antigens, and a fourth chamber contains only saline solution, with no reagent, and serves as a negative control chamber in which the user should not observe any results. Antigen-antibody reaction will cause blood to coagulate, and by looking at which chambers have coagulated blood, the user can tell the blood type and whether the blood is positive or negative.

(Source: https://www.technologynetworks.com/diagnostics/news/lab-on-a-chip-detects-blood-type-within-minutes-337310#:~:text=Thus%2C%20to%20speed%20up%20the,results%20through%20simple%20visual%20inspections.)

* For More Information, Contact:  

Craig Boerner

craig.boerner@vumc.org

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