Health benefits of reducing body iron as a motivational tool for improving voluntary blood donation

background: Possible toxic effects of iron stores have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several common diseases including malignancy,neurodegenerative disorders,diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis.Controlled iron deprivation has shown to have beneficial effects in the outcome of these disease states.Iron deprivation appears to be more efficient and more feasible than any other classical antioxidant therapy.Phlebotomy is known to be safe and an effective means of reducing iron stores. If healthy adults volunteer to donate blood to reduce iron levels,it will be a boon to transfusion services,especially in countries like India where there is a huge gap between demand and supply of blood. Methods and results: Hundred numbers each of healthy adult males who have not donated blood,patients with coronary disease and regular blood donors were included in the study. Total serum iron,serum ferritin, and total iron binding capacity were estimated.percentage of transferrin saturation was calculated.Statistical analysis of the results were done. conclusion:Iron accumulates as age advances in the adult male population of the state.Substantial reduction of iron levels can be achieved by regular blood donation.Hence regular blood donation can be used as a motivational tool for health promotion and disease prevention.This will help us to augment our donor base.