Blood Donations = Heart Health for Men?

[9er]

There is some research showing that frequent blood donation removes excess iron which then improves cardiovascular health, especially in men.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0901072035.htm

http://blog.lef.org/2010/07/health-b...ing-blood.html

[Ciderman]

I had a coworker that did a blood donation every 90 days. He did this because his iron level was too high and it lowered it with each donation. It worked for him.

[DavidOH]

I just suffered for two weeks with the high Iron level.
It makes my fingers hurt till one splits open and bleeds.
The pain does not go away and the wound won't heal till I lose some blood.
I read somewhere that men are NOT to take the multivitamins with iron in them for this reason.

I donated in December, but the Red Cross isn't coming around for a few more weeks.

I guess sometimes those little cuts and scrapes we get ARE good for us.

[backlash]

Maybe they were on to something in the so called dark ages.
Blood letting may come back.

[MollyPitcher]

Don't know about blood letting, but after every lumbar puncture (sounds better than spinal tap) I've ever had I am blissfully free of headaches for about six months. If the punctures weren't so bad I'd get them regularly, just to help my migranes.

[Faith123]

I'm just the opposite of you folks - I've never been able to donate because of low iron levels! I had a health teacher that tried to tell us women that we were at such an advantage because we bleed every month and don't have to worry about hemochromatosis like he had. Male teacher....bah.

And Molly, you're backwards too! Everyone else I have ever known has gotten horrible headaches when they get a lumbar puncture! I denied one in the hospital for just that reason.

[Davedone]

I don't intend to offend anyone's sensibilities but when I was younger I was on skid row for about a year in one of our southern states. A lot of the boys use to sell a pint of blood every 30 days and plasma every other day. We were told that the cheap wine we were sure to buy was a good way to restore the iron loss.
I continued to donate throughout my working life and these days I get great marks on my yearly physicals and am on no maintenance drugs at all. I am not saying it was the bleeding but, may be...