Contents:
- Medical Video: What to Eat After You Lose Blood|6 Foods to Eat After You Lose Blood
- What foods must be consumed before blood donation?
- 1. Foods rich in iron
- 2. Foods rich in vitamin C
- 3. Drink plenty of water
- What should be avoided?
- Alcohol
- Fatty food
- Foods that inhibit iron absorption
Medical Video: What to Eat After You Lose Blood|6 Foods to Eat After You Lose Blood
Blood donors are a safe way to help others get blood. However, blood donors can cause some disruptive side effects if they are not well prepared, such as fatigue and anemia. Therefore, eating the right foods and drinks before donating blood can help reduce your risk of reducing side effects. Already know what foods are before blood donation that must be eaten? See below.
What foods must be consumed before blood donation?
Before donating blood, the most important thing about preparing food and drinks is that you must maintain fluid intake properly and have sufficient iron intake. Because, when donating blood you will lose iron in the body. The lower the level of iron will make a person easy to weaken.
1. Foods rich in iron
Iron is a very important mineral in the body to make hemoglobin. This hemoglobin will function to carry oxygen from the lungs throughout the body.
Eating iron-rich foods will help the body store more iron reserves. When you don't have enough iron to replace lost iron after donating, you will experience iron deficiency anemia.
There are two types of iron found in food:
Heme iron: Heme iron is a type of iron that is more easily absorbed, so that this type of iron can increase iron in the body effectively. The body will absorb this type of iron up to 30%. This type of iron is usually found in many animal foods.
Examples of foods before blood donation from the type of heme iron include:
- Beef, lamb, pork.
- Poultry, like chickens and turkeys.
- Fish and shellfish, such as tuna, shrimp, clams, mackarel.
- Liver organ
- Egg
Non heme iron is a type of iron that is more difficult to absorb by the body. Iron from this type can be absorbed by the body 10-20%. Because, absorption of this iron in the body can be blocked by several other substances. The presence of phytic acid in whole wheat, and oxalic acid from green vegetables can reduce this iron absorption. This type of iron is dominantly found in plants. So that this iron cannot provide a sufficient amount of iron compared to heme iron.
Examples of foods before blood donation from non-heme iron types include:
- Green vegetables like spinach, broccoli, and mustard greens.
- Bread, cereals, flour, pasta and iron-fortified rice.
- Fruits such as strawberries, watermelons, dates, figs, plums, apricots and peaches.
- Nuts including tofu, kidney beans, white beans, garbanzo beans, and lentils.
2. Foods rich in vitamin C
In addition to iron-rich foods you are also encouraged to eat foods high in vitamin C. Vitamin C is very important to help absorb non-heme iron from plants. Reporting from the Healthline page, fruits rich in vitamin C include:
- Orange
- Kiwi
- Mango
- Papaya
- Pineapple
- Strawberry
- Blueberries
- Watermelon
- Tomato
3. Drink plenty of water
Your fluid intake must be fulfilled before blood donation. The reason is, when you donate blood, the water content in your body will also decrease. Water is the dominant composition of blood. Half of your blood will decrease in the body, which means that the water in the body also decreases.
If the fluid in your body decreases, the blood pressure in your body will also decrease and make you dizzy and weak.
The American Red Cross recommends that blood donors drink 2 cups of water before making a blood donor, or about 500 ml of water before donating blood.
This intake of additional fluids will help offset the fluid lost during the donor, and will help restore your blood volume to normal.
What should be avoided?
Some foods and drinks have a negative effect on your blood. Before blood donation, try to avoid the following foods and drinks.
Alcohol
Alcohol will actually make the body more easily dehydrated. In addition, drinking alcoholic beverages before a blood donor can delay recovery.
Avoid drinking alcohol 24 hours before you donate blood. If you have just taken an alcoholic drink overnight or before a blood donor, neutralize it first by drinking plenty of water.
Fatty food
Fatty foods such as fried foods and fats from animal foods such as beef fat or chicken skin should be avoided. The reason is, this fat stack can disrupt the blood test results before blood donation.
Foods that inhibit iron absorption
There are several foods that can interfere with iron absorption, especially non-heme iron. You don't need to really avoid this food. Simply avoid consuming this type of food and drink along with the iron-source foods you consume, or avoid with iron supplements that you drink. These foods and drinks are:
- Coffee, chocolate and tea containing caffeine.
- High calcium foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt.
The above foods and drinks contain polyphenols or contain calcium which can inhibit iron absorption.
