Can cancer be predicted by looking at blood type?

Blood types, which are predetermined at birth, cannot be changed for us. For this reason, the controversy over blood type has never stopped.

There are rumors that blood type plays a decisive role in life expectancy, and predicts the risk of stroke, and even cancer. Many people also believe that the O blood type is the "universal blood" and can be transfused at will.

Among the many claims, which is right and which is wrong, true or false, has been a topic of concern and hot debate.

The blood type in the "limelight", really has so many roles. Next, one by one for you to analyze, we look down together.

A. Blood type can determine life expectancy, is it true or false?

There are many rumors about blood type, and many people are convinced after hearing the rumors that they are not a "long-lived blood type" and are afraid that their life expectancy is not as long as others, but can blood type really determine life expectancy?

Medical experts have investigated 898 patients with suspected coronary heart disease and found that 57.1% of these people had blood type A, which is significantly higher than other blood types and even higher than the sum of other blood types.

A study in the journal Diabetologia noted that people with blood types A and B were at higher risk of developing diabetes, with a 21% increased risk compared to other blood types

A study in the American Journal of Neurology found that people with blood type AB are more likely to have an 82% increased risk of cognitive impairment compared to other blood types; studies in the Chinese Medical Journal and eLife point out that people with blood type O have a higher risk of developing stomach ulcers and specific infectious diseases of the intestinal tract.

If your blood type happens to be prone to certain diseases, there is no need to worry too much. These studies only point out that there is a correlation between blood type and diseases, but there is no sufficient evidence to show the correlation between the two, which is more of a reference role.

Second, blood type can predict the risk of stroke, which blood type has the highest risk?

On August 31, 2022, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine published a meta-study in the journal Neurology in which they analyzed 48 studies on genetic information and ischemia from the Early Detection Stroke Consortium, including 17,000 patients who had already had a stroke and 600,000 healthy people. The subjects included 17,000 people who had already had a stroke and 600,000 healthy people.

The analysis found that people with blood type A had a higher risk of early-onset (<60 years) stroke, with a 16 percent increased risk than subjects with other blood types. Of all the blood types, subjects with blood type O had the lowest risk of developing a stroke.

In this regard, the researchers concluded that the risk of blood clots is higher in people with type A blood than in other blood types, which is related to the clotting factors in the body.

However, more research is needed to support the specific mechanism, and only a correlation between the two can be demonstrated at this time.

Which blood type is more likely to develop cancer, A, B, O, or AB?

When it comes to diseases, nothing is more important than cancer. Is there any correlation between the occurrence of cancer and blood type?

A team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University has published a study in PLoS One, which started in 1986. A total of more than 18,000 men were selected for the survey, and a total of more than 20 years of follow-up was conducted. During the follow-up, nearly 4,000 men were diagnosed with cancer. The analysis revealed that there were some differences in the types of cancer among the different blood types.

(i) Subjects with blood type A had a 20% increased risk of developing digestive tract tumors compared to other blood types.

(ii) People with AB blood type have a 42% increased risk of liver cancer compared to other blood types.

③After excluding some other factors, researchers found that blood type B is the "safest" blood type among all blood types, with the lowest risk of cancer.

④Blood type O is also a relatively "safe" blood type, with a lower risk of cancer and other diseases than other blood types.

Although there is an increasing number of studies on the relationship between blood type and disease occurrence, these studies are more statistical.

There is no clear answer about the exact mechanism between blood type and disease occurrence. Don't blindly believe in the connection between blood type and disease to the extent that you bring some unnecessary psychological burden to yourself. Many factors affect the occurrence of diseases, and blood type is probably only one of the very small ones.

4. Is the O blood type the "universal blood"? Can it be transfused at will?

I believe we have all heard the rumor that the O blood type is the most versatile, no matter what blood type people need blood transfusion, they can use O blood.

The reason for this is that there are no A and B antibodies on the red blood cells of type O blood, so many people think that this transfusion will not produce a reaction.

However, this idea is not correct. The red blood cells of type O blood do not contain A and B antigens, but there are anti-A and anti-B antibodies in the plasma. The recipient of the blood will suffer serious sequelae as a result which may also be life threatening.

Even though there may be some relationship between blood type and disease occurrence, it is only one of the influencing factors and it is uncontrollable.

We should adjust some bad habits in our life, including smoking, alcohol abuse, and chronic emotional disorders, which also increase the chance of disease occurrence. But these factors are completely controllable, so instead of obsessing about the factors that we cannot control, why not make changes from these controllable factors?

All in all, blood type can provide us with some reference, but the length of life is affected by many factors, and it is not determined by blood type alone, so we should look at it rationally.