Memorizing your blood type is critical for all sorts of reasons, from knowing who you can accept blood transfusions from to who you can donate your blood to. Not to mention the role it plays in your likelihood of contracting COVID-19. And now, as doctors and scientists do increasingly more research on how a person’s blood type can affect their health, there’s even more of an incentive to pay attention to whether you’re A, B, AB, or O—and whether you’re positive or negative, too.
For example, recent studies have found that a person’s blood type can mean anything from an increased risk of depression to a higher likelihood of developing diabetes. Curious about what your own blood type means? Keep reading to find out.
People with type O blood are less susceptible to malaria.
Although people with type O blood are more susceptible to bites, they can thank their genetics for one thing: protection against malaria. Oddly enough, scientists have found that folks with type O blood seldom die from malaria, seeing as the RIFIN protein—the protein that causes malaria—is less able to bond to type O blood cells and therefore cannot do as much damage.
People with type O blood are the least likely to suffer from cardiovascular issues.
If you have type O blood, then your heart is in luck: According to research presented at the 2017 World Congress on Acute Heart Failure, individuals with this blood type are less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. The bad news? Individuals who are type A, type B, or type AB—in other words, some 63 percent of the overall population—have a 9 percent increased risk of both coronary and cardiovascular events.
People with type A blood are more likely to develop stomach cancer.
Stomach cancer and type A blood seem to go hand in hand. That’s according to a 2015 study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, which found that people with type A blood were 38 percent more likely to develop stomach cancer than those with type O blood.
And all non-O blood types are at an elevated risk of pancreatic cancer.
Though non-A blood types are relatively less likely to get stomach cancer, they still have to worry about pancreatic cancer. In the same 2015 study, researchers found that all non-O blood types were at a higher risk of pancreatic cancer, and subjects with type B blood were 59 percent more likely to come down with cancer.
People with type AB blood are much more likely to develop cognitive issues.
If your blood type is AB, then you’ll want to keep a close watch on your cognitive health. One 2014 study published in the journal Neurology analyzed the relationship between blood type and brain health and found that people with type AB blood had an 82 percent higher risk of cognitive impairment.
People with negative blood types tend to have more mental health issues.
The minority of the population who is Rh-negative is at a higher risk of certain mental health issues. A 2015 study of more than 3,000 subjects published in the journal PLoS One found that “Rh-negative men more often reported certain mental health disorders including panic disorders, antisocial personality disorders, and attention deficits.”
And they also have more skin allergies.
In addition to mental health issues, people with Rh-negative blood types are also more prone to developing allergies. In the same PLoS One study, researchers found that subjects with Rh-negative blood were slightly more likely to have skin allergies.
Your blood’s Rh factor can cause complications during pregnancy.
Whether or not you’re Rh positive or Rh negative could have an impact on your pregnancy. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, problems can occur when a woman is Rh-negative and her fetus is Rh-positive, as this can result in something called Rh incompatibility.
“If the blood of an Rh-positive fetus gets into the bloodstream of an Rh-negative woman, her body will understand it is not her blood and will fight it by making anti-Rh antibodies,” the organization explains. “These antibodies can cross the placenta and try to destroy the fetus’s blood. This reaction can lead to serious health problems and even death in a fetus or newborn.”
The majority of the Latino-American population is type O+.
While type O is the most common blood type overall, it’s especially prevalent in the Latino-American community. According to the American Red Cross, approximately 53 percent of Latino-Americans are type O+ and 4 percent are type O-.
Negative blood types are less common.
That statistic about the Latino-American community makes sense, seeing as negative blood types—whether type A, type B, type AB, or type O—are few and far between. In fact, according to the Oklahoma Blood Institute, only about 18 percent of the total U.S. population has a negative blood type. #24x7newsalert
