Chemicals & Blood (supplements/ food/ herbs/ medicine)

[yingco]

:confused: Just interested to know the following:

1) Are supplements, due to it chemical properties, considered medicine? Are people allowed to donate after taking the supplements prior to blood donations? I know that donors are not allowed to donate until at least 2 weeks after they last ingest their medicine.

2) What are some of the supplements available in the market that can help the donors prior or after the blood donation?

3) How do chemicals from processed food affect our blood? They are laden with preservatives, chemicals, as well as availability of GM (genetic modified) food. Is this a factor that affects the quality of blood collected from the donors?


The chemicals from processed food are approved by the authorities. There is also no GM label. Since the chemicals and GM food are approved by the authorities, they don't have a valid reason to ban people from donating blood if they consume these things. Otherwise, they are slapping themselves by indicating that they approved something harmful to be used in food. I personally believe chemicals from processed food and GM are harmful especially in the next generation. That may explain why there are so many birth defects in this century which is pretty unheard of in the past. I have seen donors with milky blood because of eaten something unhealthy. this is indeed undesirable. However as you said, it will be difficult to enforce that donors only eat healthy food before they come and donate. Shan Xue; http://forums.donorweb.org/showthread.php?t=73

4) Does medical creams that are to be applied tropically, (eg. acne cream) considered a form of medicine? Does this bar a person from donating until 2 weeks later of being “medicine-free"?

5) Are herbs (Chinese medicine brew) considered medicine or supplement?

6) Treatment like acupuncture/ massage does not affect whether one can donate blood, right?

7) We get certain levels of chemicals from the food we eat (even fresh produce), and the things we do (make-up & etc) in our daily life. To what extent is our blood considered toxic and could not be donated or accepted by the HSA? I believe that having certain amount of chemicals in our blood is a natural process and is unpreventable.

Thanks for reading through. It'll be great if someone would answer my queries. ;-P

[Shan Xue]

1) Are supplements, due to it chemical properties, considered medicine? Are people allowed to donate after taking the supplements prior to blood donations? I know that donors are not allowed to donate until at least 2 weeks after they last ingest their medicine.

<<Vitamin supplement, whether natural or sythetic is considered acceptable. Herbs are not. Donors are allowed to donate 3 days instead of 2 weeks after they last ingest their medicine.>>

2) What are some of the supplements available in the market that can help the donors prior or after the blood donation?

<<Spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass. available in most health food store.

vitamin supplement containing vitamin C, iron, folic acid and B12. Brand "Nature's essence" available at Guardian. one bottle of 90 vegetarian capsules cost around $13. GNC also got similar product>>

<<Natural liquid iron from plants. eg. Floradix liquid iron supplement. Available at Mustafa and some health food store.>>

<<molasses. available at health food store.>>

<<chinese herbs such as goji berries, dang gui.>>

<< vegetables juices. see sub-forum knowledge sharing for more info>>

4) Does medical creams that are to be applied tropically, (eg. acne cream) considered a form of medicine? Does this bar a person from donating until 2 weeks later of being “medicine-free"?

<< Not barred from donating blood. otherwise, hair dye also cannot, though technically it can go into the blood.>>

5) Are herbs (Chinese medicine brew) considered medicine or supplement?

<<Not allowed for blood donation 3 days within taking.>>

6) Treatment like acupuncture/ massage does not affect whether one can donate blood, right?

<<after acupunture, blood donation is banned for 1 year, though i don't understand the reason because disposable needles are used. massage is ok.>>

7) We get certain levels of chemicals from the food we eat (even fresh produce), and the things we do (make-up & etc) in our daily life. To what extent is our blood considered toxic and could not be donated or accepted by the HSA? I believe that having certain amount of chemicals in our blood is a natural process and is unpreventable.

<<HSA don't screen for chemicals and toxics in the blood. just check for aids virus, hepatitis, etc. chemical and toxics in the blood is used by alternative medicine practioners, the process known as "Live Blood Analysis.">>

[yingco]

2) What are some of the supplements available in the market that can help the donors prior or after the blood donation?
-- Spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass. available in most health food store.
-- Vitamin supplement containing Vitamin C, Iron, Folic acid and B12.
-- Brand "Nature's essence" available at Guardian. One bottle of 90 vegetarian capsules cost around $13. GNC also got similar product.
-- Natural liquid iron from plants. eg. Floradix liquid iron supplement. Available at Mustafa and some health food store.
-- Molasses, available at health food stores.
-- Chinese herbs such as Goji berries, Dang Gui.
-- Vegetables juices.
<< See sub-forum knowledge sharing for more info. http://forums.donorweb.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=13>>

Thanks for answering my queries. (n_n") I'll take some of the supplements mentioned.
The link site is cool. It has more info than I had expected. Very Informative. ;P
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More Questions:
A) Can anyone explain more on the benefits of the Chinese herbs? It's not available in the link.

B) Are tasty vegetable juices available in the market? I only heard of fruit juices, though? (pardon my ignorance)
What are some of the brands, and where to get them?

C) Is it better to get our vitamins from the supplements, or from the fresh produce (our food/ fruits) ?

[Shan Xue]

More Questions:
A) Can anyone explain more on the benefits of the Chinese herbs? It's not available in the link.

<<Herbs contain more energy than food and can help to rejuverate the body. chinese herbs that boost the blood are usually afflicted with either the liver or spleen. liver stores the blood while a good spleen is important for absorbing the nutrients from food.

http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/liver.htm

now there are scientific data that chinese herbs contain vital nutrients for blood building.>>


The hemotinic, or blood tonic, effect of Angelica sinensis (Dang Gui) is now attributed to its vitamin B12, folic acid, folinic acid, nicotinic acid and biotin contents.
http://www.dragonherbs.com/herbs/herbs.asp?herb_id=11763


Tibetan Goji Berries are wonderful and delicious tonic fruits used as a blood tonic and to nurture the heart. They have been used to relieve heart palpitation, insomnia, forgetfulness and anxiety associated with blood and chi deficiency. The berries have a high content of iron, about 20 times that of grapes and 15 times that of spinach.

Another study of people who consumed consistent doses of Goji berry found SOD in the blood increased by a remarkable 48%, hemoglobin increased by 12% and lipid peroxide levels dropped by an amazing 65%.

http://www.northernnaturals.com/goji_berries.html


B) Are tasty vegetable juices available in the market? I only heard of fruit juices, though? (pardon my ignorance)
What are some of the brands, and where to get them?

<<Yes. you can either juice vegetables yourself or buy from health food or organic food store. better to buy organic vegetable juice without preservatives, added sugar or chemical additives. the brand names are pretty unheard of as it is not commonly available in supermarket. anyway, no need to know. just go to organic food store such as"Organic for less". >>

C) Is it better to get our vitamins from the supplements, or from the fresh produce (our food/ fruits) ?

<<Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said "Let food be thy medicine". it is best to get vitamins from food, and the easiest and fastest way is to consume vegetable juices. for instance, i took the iron supplement from blood bank. hemoglobin never increase at all. after i add goji berries everyday to my salad for lunch, my hemoglobin increase from 12.6 to 14.9 within 5 to 6 weeks. even the nurse at the blood bank is surprised. i suspect it is due to goji berries but not 100% sure. can't recall any other change in diet during that period.>>

[yingco]

Is it better to get our vitamins from the supplements, or from the fresh produce (our food/ fruits) ?
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said "Let food be thy medicine". it is best to get vitamins from food, and the easiest and fastest way is to consume vegetable juices. for instance, I took the iron supplement from blood bank but my hemoglobin never increase at all. After I add goji berries everyday to my salad for lunch, my hemoglobin increase from 12.6 to 14.9 within 5 to 6 weeks. Even the nurse at the blood bank is surprised. I suspect it is due to goji berries but not 100% sure. Can't recall any other change in diet during that period.
I agree that getting our daily fix from our food is more beneficial. However the natural vitamins and nutrients are easily destroyed and removed by our bad cooking methods. So is the fruits/ vegetable still considered healthy; after being overwashed or overcooked?

My friend said that taking supplements is better as the pills extract the essence of the vitamins and is more easily absorbed by our body in concentrated form. Is it true?

[Shan Xue]

cooking destroys some of the nutrients. what i recommended earlier is to consume juices from raw vegetables. no cooking. for fruits and vegetables, try to eat it raw whenever possible. vitamins from whole food is better than so called extracted essence of vitamin. for eg. so called vitamin C in orange is not equal to ascorbic acid usually sold as vitamin C supplement. folic acid vitamin supplement is not equal to folate in vegetables. our body needs the vitamins from whole food. when less than whole is supplied, the body will have to tap from the reserve. so consuming sythetic supplement can result in deficiency of the vitamin itself.

even when the supplement is processed from whole food, the pill form is not as potent as the original form. for eg, consuming fresh wheatgrass juice is far superior than to consume wheatgrass powder. once processed into powder or made into pill, the "energy force" will decrease.

[joy]

I am currently taking oral contraceptives to regulate my monthly periods. Would the use of such contraceptives be reason to be rejected for blood donations? I'd like to return to regular donations, but am still unsure. Would appreciate it if you could clear my doubts on that. Thanks! =)

[Shan Xue]

should be able to donate. it is not listed in HSA website. on other website,
there is no need to defer donation.

http://www.bloodcenters.org/donating/blood.htm

however, it is better to call the blood bank to ask the doctor to confirm. their number is 6213 0626