6 ms·

Its' not a bad article. I had long ago heard about the hypothesis that women have a more complex immune system so they can carry a pregnancy to term and not rej

Its' not a bad article. I had long ago heard about the hypothesis that women have a more complex immune system so they can carry a pregnancy to term and not reject the baby immediately as something invasive. (And that's a hypothesis that makes sense to me.) But I would add that we already know that female menstruation impacts certain specific disease processes, such as heart disease. Men get advised to donate blood to lower their risk of heart disease. Women who are still menstruating don't need to do that. Covid is known to impact the blood significantly. Blood differences between men and women could play a role in difference in outcomes between men and women for this condition. Women who have been pregnant become chimeras. They get cells from the baby that stay in their system. They also share a blood supply with the baby. I have a serious and incurable congenital disorder. I'm convinced my two pregnancies were hugely beneficial to my long-term health for a long list of reasons, possibly including having cells still in me from one child who did not inherit the disorder. So I'm interested in this topic for personal reasons and I've read a bit about such things over the years and I think it's probably hugely more complicated than this article suggests.

erispoe 5y ago
> Men get advised to donate blood to lower their risk of heart disease. I had never heard of that and did not find any article supporting that from a quick search. I found observational studies concluding that men who donate blood are less at risk for heart attacks, but did not control for selection bias (men who choose to or can donate blood are healthier) or for causes associated with the blood donation (e.g. you might discover you have high blood pressure while donating and seek treatment afterwards).
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  Quick and dirty search gets me a piece titled Health benefits of blood donation which says (in part): Studies have shown that, in general, Americans tend to consume more iron on a daily basis than is necessary for good health. Ingestion of quantities of iron beyond a certain quantity can promote formation of free radicals in the body. Free radicals have justly earned their reputation for causing cellular changes which can disrupt normal cell function and increase the risk of certain chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. This is more likely to be a problem for men and post menopausal women... https://medicalwesthospital.org/january-is-blood-donor-month.php https://medicalwesthospital.org/january-is-blood-donor-month... I'm American. If you aren't, that might be a factor.
  - erispoe 5y ago
    The paragraph you quoted references (but does not cite) studies about the effect of excessive iron consumption, not evidence for a causal link from blood donation to reduced cardiovascular risks. It seems that there is some correlation between cardiovascular risk and blood donation, but this might just be due to a confounding factor: healthy people tend to donate blood more. E.g. this study [1]: Despite the significant difference in QRISK2 parameters between study groups, none of these parameters was correlated to the extent of donation when controlling for age, BMI and smoking status. Or this one [2]: No significant associations were found between blood donation and the risk of myocardial infarction in analyses restricted to men with hypercholesterolemia or those who never used antioxidant supplements or aspirin. The study results do not support the hypothesis that reduced body iron stores lower CHD risk. Ironically this other Dutch study [3], shows an association (not causal) between frequent blood donation and cardiovascular health in women but not in men. [1]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28797569/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28797569/ [2]: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.cir.103.1.52 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.cir.103.1.52 [3]: https://heart.bmj.com/content/105/16/1260 https://heart.bmj.com/content/105/16/1260
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      My recollection is that the inference that men should donate blood to protect their heart health is based at least in part on the fact that women see an increase in heart disease around the time they stop menstruating: Once women reach the age of 50, about the age of natural menopause, their risk for heart disease increases dramatically. https://www.webmd.com/menopause/guide/menopause-heart-disease https://www.webmd.com/menopause/guide/menopause-heart-diseas...
      - glandium 5y ago
        How different is the increase of heart disease risk for men above 50?
        DoreenMichele 5y ago
- TheSmiddy 5y ago
  When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure I asked my doctor if I could donate more blood to lower it and she laughed and said your veins are not rigid pipes so it's not that easy.
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    The doctor laughed at that? Even if wrong that’s a pretty intuitive thing to think. It’s a very reasonable question - as would the inverse (adding more blood to raise pressure).
    - frenchy 5y ago
      I doubt it was a "ha-ha you're a stupid idiot" laugh but more of the sort of laugh you'd do when a toddler does something that makes perfect common sense, but violates social norms (like discussing their bowel movements with strangers).
  - darkerside 5y ago
    I hate when people laugh at good questions. It really fucking annoys me.
    - Engineering-MD 5y ago
      Depends how they laugh. You can laugh in a good natured way at what should be a logical step but weirdly isn’t because of a non-obvious component of a system. They are funny in a similar way to how a joke is- something about the sudden change in perspective but with an flaw in the logic. But you are right that you need to make it clear you aren’t laughing at them to avoid such confusion.
    - arcticfox 5y ago
      I see what you mean, but I probably would have laughed at that because it's a really clever solution, not out of scorn. I am guessing a doctor that has spent decade hearing about various blood pressure medications and treatment would have an instant of "That's funny, why can't we just empty them a bit?"
- mrtnmcc 5y ago
  One mechanism is the accumulation of excess iron, which can only be removed through bloodletting (e.g., menstruation). https://www.webmd.com/men/features/too-much-iron-in-your-blood https://www.webmd.com/men/features/too-much-iron-in-your-blo...
- Causality1 5y ago
  My wife is a phlebotomist. She often sees men who've been prescribed blood donation to control their iron levels. Unfortunately that blood has to be discarded because of the high iron level.
- Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
  Thanks for searching, I hope parent would be able to provide further details on that statement. I got O -ve so I maintained >45 Kgs weight(min required) so I could donate when needed but my bones couldn't take it (Osteoporosis, Achondroplasia) and so now I've reduced my weight to 40 Kgs; It was bummer to hear donating lowers risk of heart disease although I wish it was true as its a win-win for donating blood.
- commandlinefan 5y ago
  > I had never heard of that and did not find any article supporting that from a quick search It would be ironic if medieval doctors who "bled" patients to cure them had actually been on to something all this time.
  - Engineering-MD 5y ago
    Known to be effective in haemochromatosis, but thankfully now replaced with a medication.
dojiav 5y ago
Check out The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine. Covers a lot of things you mention.
refurb 5y ago
They also share a blood supply with the baby The mother and child's blood supply remain separate throughout the pregnancy. Some mixing can occur during childbirth (which is why Rh- women can have one baby that's fine and the next one gets ill).
- implements 5y ago
  True, though this can be suppressed by a series of injections during the first pregnancy: “Rhesus disease is uncommon these days because it can usually be prevented using injections of a medication called anti-D immunoglobulin.” - allowing mothers to safely have more than one child. From: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rhesus-disease/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rhesus-disease/
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

erispoe 5y ago

> Men get advised to donate blood to lower their risk of heart disease. I had never heard of that and did not find any article supporting that from a quick search. I found observational studies concluding that men who donate blood are less at risk for heart attacks, but did not control for selection bias (men who choose to or can donate blood are healthier) or for causes associated with the blood donation (e.g. you might discover you have high blood pressure while donating and seek treatment afterwards).

DoreenMichele 5y ago
Quick and dirty search gets me a piece titled Health benefits of blood donation which says (in part): Studies have shown that, in general, Americans tend to consume more iron on a daily basis than is necessary for good health. Ingestion of quantities of iron beyond a certain quantity can promote formation of free radicals in the body. Free radicals have justly earned their reputation for causing cellular changes which can disrupt normal cell function and increase the risk of certain chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. This is more likely to be a problem for men and post menopausal women... https://medicalwesthospital.org/january-is-blood-donor-month.php https://medicalwesthospital.org/january-is-blood-donor-month... I'm American. If you aren't, that might be a factor.
- erispoe 5y ago
  The paragraph you quoted references (but does not cite) studies about the effect of excessive iron consumption, not evidence for a causal link from blood donation to reduced cardiovascular risks. It seems that there is some correlation between cardiovascular risk and blood donation, but this might just be due to a confounding factor: healthy people tend to donate blood more. E.g. this study [1]: Despite the significant difference in QRISK2 parameters between study groups, none of these parameters was correlated to the extent of donation when controlling for age, BMI and smoking status. Or this one [2]: No significant associations were found between blood donation and the risk of myocardial infarction in analyses restricted to men with hypercholesterolemia or those who never used antioxidant supplements or aspirin. The study results do not support the hypothesis that reduced body iron stores lower CHD risk. Ironically this other Dutch study [3], shows an association (not causal) between frequent blood donation and cardiovascular health in women but not in men. [1]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28797569/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28797569/ [2]: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.cir.103.1.52 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.cir.103.1.52 [3]: https://heart.bmj.com/content/105/16/1260 https://heart.bmj.com/content/105/16/1260
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    My recollection is that the inference that men should donate blood to protect their heart health is based at least in part on the fact that women see an increase in heart disease around the time they stop menstruating: Once women reach the age of 50, about the age of natural menopause, their risk for heart disease increases dramatically. https://www.webmd.com/menopause/guide/menopause-heart-disease https://www.webmd.com/menopause/guide/menopause-heart-diseas...
    - glandium 5y ago
      How different is the increase of heart disease risk for men above 50?
      - DoreenMichele 5y ago
TheSmiddy 5y ago
When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure I asked my doctor if I could donate more blood to lower it and she laughed and said your veins are not rigid pipes so it's not that easy.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  The doctor laughed at that? Even if wrong that’s a pretty intuitive thing to think. It’s a very reasonable question - as would the inverse (adding more blood to raise pressure).
  - frenchy 5y ago
    I doubt it was a "ha-ha you're a stupid idiot" laugh but more of the sort of laugh you'd do when a toddler does something that makes perfect common sense, but violates social norms (like discussing their bowel movements with strangers).
- darkerside 5y ago
  I hate when people laugh at good questions. It really fucking annoys me.
  - Engineering-MD 5y ago
    Depends how they laugh. You can laugh in a good natured way at what should be a logical step but weirdly isn’t because of a non-obvious component of a system. They are funny in a similar way to how a joke is- something about the sudden change in perspective but with an flaw in the logic. But you are right that you need to make it clear you aren’t laughing at them to avoid such confusion.
  - arcticfox 5y ago
    I see what you mean, but I probably would have laughed at that because it's a really clever solution, not out of scorn. I am guessing a doctor that has spent decade hearing about various blood pressure medications and treatment would have an instant of "That's funny, why can't we just empty them a bit?"
mrtnmcc 5y ago
One mechanism is the accumulation of excess iron, which can only be removed through bloodletting (e.g., menstruation). https://www.webmd.com/men/features/too-much-iron-in-your-blood https://www.webmd.com/men/features/too-much-iron-in-your-blo...
Causality1 5y ago
My wife is a phlebotomist. She often sees men who've been prescribed blood donation to control their iron levels. Unfortunately that blood has to be discarded because of the high iron level.
Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
Thanks for searching, I hope parent would be able to provide further details on that statement. I got O -ve so I maintained >45 Kgs weight(min required) so I could donate when needed but my bones couldn't take it (Osteoporosis, Achondroplasia) and so now I've reduced my weight to 40 Kgs; It was bummer to hear donating lowers risk of heart disease although I wish it was true as its a win-win for donating blood.
commandlinefan 5y ago
> I had never heard of that and did not find any article supporting that from a quick search It would be ironic if medieval doctors who "bled" patients to cure them had actually been on to something all this time.
- Engineering-MD 5y ago
  Known to be effective in haemochromatosis, but thankfully now replaced with a medication.

dojiav 5y ago

Check out The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine. Covers a lot of things you mention.

refurb 5y ago

They also share a blood supply with the baby The mother and child's blood supply remain separate throughout the pregnancy. Some mixing can occur during childbirth (which is why Rh- women can have one baby that's fine and the next one gets ill).

implements 5y ago
True, though this can be suppressed by a series of injections during the first pregnancy: “Rhesus disease is uncommon these days because it can usually be prevented using injections of a medication called anti-D immunoglobulin.” - allowing mothers to safely have more than one child. From: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rhesus-disease/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rhesus-disease/
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]