I read in Dr. Bernstein's book that giving blood regularly is a good thing for diabetics. I suppose it turns blood cells around quicker and gets rid of excess iron in the blood.

Anyway I gave blood today and I was wondering if any of you see any difference in Ha1c results after giving blood or is it just too hard to measure cause and effect is this regard.

Dennis

I just recently did a double Cell blood donation. I did it on an eating day and ate my brunch before donating. I did drink extra water afterwards and also extra salted my dinner. My blood sugar barely made a whisper. Both before the dinner and after.

That is an interesting question. How does giving blood affect A1c? It is measuring glycation of RBC, but if the cells are new, they won't be so gunked up. Hmmm.... Had to go look, and yes, you're not the only person thinking about that! But doing something that alters your A1c doesn't necessarily mean all is well. It just means you found a way to cheat on a test.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/2...ffecting-hba1c/

You caught me!!!

I was wondering though if it might be healthy to "rebuild" blood cells periodically. One argument is that too much iron is the blood one reason that men have a lower longevity than women. I don't know, this could be stupid but I'm going to look into it.

I will say my BG reading was higher than normal the evening I gave blood. it could be that the stress of losing blood was a factor or maybe just what I ate -- who knows?

I've heard it is a good thing too. :-)