from: hibbert@netcom.com
>IIRC, whole blood is hemoglobin, which contains a fair amount of
>iron. How much iron is in the platelets? I recall that it's
>mostly white (from the days when I was donating platelets
>reasonably regularly). I thought there was some connection
>between the red color of whole blood and the iron it contained.
Whole blood donors of course have to peplace the lost red blood
cells so the body takes whatever iron it has in the plasma as well
as what it has stored. (in the liver?)
>I've heard before of the idea of donating blood to reduce iron.
>Are there any studies that show it's successful? The blood
>centers usually remind you that you replace the whole blood fairly
>quickly.
I believe the RealAge (www.realage.com) site has a reference.
We platelet donors (I finished my 16th donation this year on Sat)
would only lose some of what is in the plasma plus a small amount
in the red blood cells lost. Since most of the cells are returned,
this isn't very much. But then that's not the primary reason I do
it.
Brian
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