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Giving Blood is Good for you

CherryAA

CherryAA

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,170
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
As my health has improved I have realised that both my Ferritin and GGT levels have gone down. High rates of both of these are a problem and indeed GGT is apparently a potent marker for early mortality.

Ferritin - the normal range is shown as 13-150, though according to Dr Mercola, the optimum range is 30-60 .
I have been pleased to see that my number has gradually become normalised ( from 118 down to 47)

GGT - the normal range for a woman is shown as 5-36 though again an optimal number would be
women under 18 for women optimal 9 ( mine came down from 35 to 14)
men under 27 optimal under 17 .

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/...0170920Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM158871&et_rid=57760971

this interview gives some good details.
The most interesting part, is that this is , where perhaps eating too much meat might show up as excess Ferritin and GGT.

Whilst LCHF has clearly improved my figures - there is a short cut for those who still have figures too high, maybe because its early in their journey, or because they are eating a very high red meat diet.

The short cut is to GIVE BLOOD- 3-4 times per year.

so its worth considering doing that !







iron
 
Nice idea but they don't want my blood because I treat my diabetes with insulin.
Ironic really: I was too scared of injections before I had diabetes; now injections are second nature, I cannot give blood.
 
They are not keen on mine, spent my formative years in, what is now considered, a malaria country, Iran. We never worried about it then.
 
I cannot donate blood anymore because of some my medications.

The blood mob still phone me up though, and ask me to come in a donate because I am O negative.
 
I was reading some sites very recently about haemacritic levels and how to lower them (they affect HbA1c results if high or low) and discovered body builders (at least in America) are giving blood simply to lower haemacritic levels. I have no idea what the reasoning is, something to do with testosterone supplements. They were also donating plasma, and asking for double donations. I found this OTT.

Of course, donating blood is a wonderful thing (in the UK at least - no payments)
 
There are quite a few references in the article, but there is no reference for where the statement: "an ideal level for adult men and non-menstruating women is somewhere between 30 and 60 ng/mL" came from.
 
A good nose bleed could be an alternative if they won't accept people as donors. I use to joke with my Doc that mine were a nature's way of reducing my (rather high) blood pressure...

My Mum was a regular donor, but I had jaundice as a child and so was not eligible to follow in her footsteps, though I believe this "ban" was actually removed some years ago now.

Robbity
 
Robbity said:
A good nose bleed could be an alternative if they won't accept people as donors.
Click to expand...
Nope, not a good idea for me as I take a anti coagulant called Xarelto and my nose will just keep on giving and giving... :arghh:
 
They are not to keen on my blood either, Myasthenia Gravis though you can't pass it on via blood donation I have been told.
 
CherryAA said:
The short cut is to GIVE BLOOD- 3-4 times per year.
Click to expand...

If I can find a test for CJD that doesn't involve slicing up the brain then I could be a donor again. I was a donor for many years and I used to get a big kick out of it, or was it a pat on the back? LOL It was something I could do and it cost me nothing. Little was I to realise that I would need 4 units of the fine red stuff myself. It seems that they can't guarantee the blood we get is free of CJD (human or bovine).

Maybe there is now a simple test, I haven't googled in a while.
 
NoCrbs4Me said:
There are quite a few references in the article, but there is no reference for where the statement: "an ideal level for adult men and non-menstruating women is somewhere between 30 and 60 ng/mL" came from.
Click to expand...

I had written down 30-60 is optimal in my own files after various readings on the subject but I'm not great at knowing exactly where I got it from.
The reason I started to look into this as because as a younger woman I had had severe iron deficiency. So when I saw a big fall in my ferritin level to 47 which was a lot lower than I have been so I marked that as a bad thing and even took a couple of iron pills thinking I was still prone to low iron. That bugged me because it didn't make any sense that this marker would be getting worse when all the others were getting better

A check of the Mercola website suggests 40-60 for non menstruating women and men. references below

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/06/12/iron-overload-disorder.aspx
If I come across why I thought 30 then I will post that.

I'm sensitive to trying to find out " optimal" versus " normal" because for fasting insulin that is so different ( 2-6 versus 2-25)
 
CherryAA said:
I had written down 30-60 is optimal in my own files after various readings on the subject but I'm not great at knowing exactly where I got it from.
The reason I started to look into this as because as a younger woman I had had severe iron deficiency. So when I saw a big fall in my ferritin level to 47 which was a lot lower than I have been so I marked that as a bad thing and even took a couple of iron pills thinking I was still prone to low iron. That bugged me because it didn't make any sense that this marker would be getting worse when all the others were getting better

A check of the Mercola website suggests 40-60 for non menstruating women and men. references below

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/06/12/iron-overload-disorder.aspx
If I come across why I thought 30 then I will post that.

I'm sensitive to trying to find out " optimal" versus " normal" because for fasting insulin that is so different ( 2-6 versus 2-25)
Click to expand...

I am open to Mercola's suggestion of what the "ideal" ferratin level is (30-60) or the "sweet spot" (40-60), but I couldn't find any papers that back these ranges up. It's also a bit odd that there are 2 different ranges on the 2 Mercola web site pages.

I know that for ALT, the "normal" range provided with lab results is based on the general poulation, which includes a lot of people with diabetes/insulin resistance. I found a paper that looked at ALT levels only in people with no diabetes/IR and their ALT levels were a lot lower than the lab's upper normal limit.

Also, optimal ferratin levels don't seem to be cut and dried. From the first Mercola page "since the ferritin and GGT are interactive, low GGT tends to be protective against higher ferritin. So, if your GGT is low, you're largely protected even if your ferritin is a bit higher than ideal."
 
Overall Ive been getin
NoCrbs4Me said:
I am open to Mercola's suggestion of what the "ideal" ferratin level is (30-60) or the "sweet spot" (40-60), but I couldn't find any papers that back these ranges up. It's also a bit odd that there are 2 different ranges on the 2 Mercola web site pages.

I know that for ALT, the "normal" range provided with lab results is based on the general poulation, which includes a lot of people with diabetes/insulin resistance. I found a paper that looked at ALT levels only in people with no diabetes/IR and their ALT levels were a lot lower than the lab's upper normal limit.

Also, optimal ferratin levels don't seem to be cut and dried. From the first Mercola page "since the ferritin and GGT are interactive, low GGT tends to be protective against higher ferritin. So, if your GGT is low, you're largely protected even if your ferritin is a bit higher than ideal."
Click to expand...

Overall Ive been getting the impression that GGT is probably a more important market for more things. Having said that if one does have higher than ideal ferritin levels and you can " give it away" somewhere it would do some good that seems like a no brainer ! if I come across any better support for th actual numbers I will post it. Because the normal data is an average of everyone most of it will be wider range/ higher / lower than optimal depending on circumstance.
 
Never checked my ferritin level. GGT is a liver enzyme and doesn't mean much just by itself. Diabetics can't donate blood. What the OP is talking about is therapeutic phlebotomy. They chuck the blood in the trash. Not sure what good that does unless one has polycythemia which is not common and not always treated with phlebotomy either.
 
TheBigNewt said:
What the OP is talking about is therapeutic phlebotomy. They chuck the blood in the trash. Not sure what good that does unless one has polycythemia which is not common and not always treated with phlebotomy either.
Click to expand...

I have seen body builders using blood letting for reducing haemacritic levels, including plasma, something to do with taking testosterone supplements - all on American websites. I find this unbelievable.

Can anyone tell me if the measurement units U/L and i.u/L are the same things?

My GGT is 14 i.u/L but my ferritin is way above what Mercola is saying. It is 133ug/L
 
JohnEGreen said:
They are not to keen on my blood either, Myasthenia Gravis though you can't pass it on via blood donation I have been told.
Click to expand...
That puts me out too! (I never knew that!) - I wonder if it affects organ donation as well? MMMMMM?
 
TheBigNewt said:
Never checked my ferritin level. GGT is a liver enzyme and doesn't mean much just by itself. Diabetics can't donate blood. What the OP is talking about is therapeutic phlebotomy. They chuck the blood in the trash. Not sure what good that does unless one has polycythemia which is not common and not always treated with phlebotomy either.
Click to expand...
Type 2 diabetics can donate blood. What good therapeutic phlebotomy would do is get rid of excess iron, according to the the link the OP provided.

GGT results may not mean much, but elevated levels indicate a problem with your liver. That's rather important.
 
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