Scientists reveal the one blood type which has the lowest risk of heart disease
Knowing which blood group you belong to can - in emergency situations - be used to save your life.
An identical match needs to be used in scenarios requiring blood transfusions, of in cases of complex pregnancies.
You might be surprised to learn, however, that knowledge of your blood type can also be used as a means of navigating longer term health conditions, including heart disease.
In fact, according to some medical experts, there's one particular blood group that has an inherent, lesser risk of seeing the person diagnosed with coronary ailments
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How to find out your blood type
You can easily learn which blood group you're part of by asking the member of staff that takes your blood during your next routine appointment. Similarly, you can make the same discovery whilst donating blood.
It's not necessarily information that doctors and nurses automatically volunteer, however - and most people only find their's out whilst undergoing treatment for specific health conditions, or, as we say, whilst pregnant.
According to the NHS, there are four main blood groups, or 'types' of blood.
Each person's is determined by the blood groups of their parents. You're either:
- A
- B
- AB
- O
Each of these groups can either also be classed as 'positive' or 'negative'. So, you could be A-positive, B-negative, O-negative, AB-positive, and so on and so forth. This latter section refers to whether or not your blood carries something called the Rh protein.
This is why other health facilities often describe there being eight blood groups - four positive, and four negative.
Which blood type has a lesser risk of heart disease?
Centuries-long research has allowed medics to track which blood categories provide a lesser or greater risk of a person being diagnosed with a certain health issue.
When it comes to heart disease - which accounts for more than 170,000 deaths per year in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation - medics at HealthBeat claim that Type O individuals have a lessened chance of a diagnosis.
The news outlet claims that this claim could be in comparison to other blood groups, which reportedly have certain clotting factors, caused by solidifying proteins.
Experts also claim that, in particularly Type A, B and AB, individuals should centre more of their attention onto introducing an actively healthy lifestyle.
Other health conditions
And whilst we definitely do not want to imply that all other blood groups are doomed, it's also believed that Type O individuals also have a lessened chance of receiving certain cancer diagnoses.
Again, according to HealthBeat medics, people with Type A or AB blood sadly have a higher risk of being diagnosed with gastric cancer, whilst Type A, B and AB individuals have a higher risk of pancreatic cancer.
Such is also supposedly the case for Covid-19 infections, with Type A's being at the highest risk compared to other blood groups, and Type O having the lowest risk.
Rhianna Benson