As well as potentially saving your life in emergency scenarios, some experts say that knowing which blood group you belong to could also assist in navigating longer term health conditions - specifically, cancer.
A study conducted in 2015 reportedly ruled that only one of the four blood groups had been linked to a lessened chance of developing certain strains of the disease. But which?
Before we get into that, let's remind ourselves how we're able to learn which type of blood runs through our veins.
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It turns out that finding out which blood group you're in is rather simple. You can ask the nurse taking your blood either during your next routine test, or whilst donating blood.
Finding out your blood type
It's important to note, however, that this isn't the type of info that the NHS member of staff taking your blood will offer up voluntarily. In fact, most people only discover their blood group when being treated for a specific health condition.
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Many women also learn their blood type whilst pregnant.
You could take an educated guess, being that each person's is determined by the blood groups of their parents, but this won't come in too handy during life or death situations, whereby a blood transfusion is needed.
As we say, there are four 'types' of blood. Every person is either:
- A
- B
- AB
- O
Each of these four groups can then be further classified, as either 'positive' or 'negative' - so, you could possibly be A-positive, B-negative, O-negative, AB-positive, etc. This refers to whether or not your blood carries something called the Rh protein.
Which blood group is linked to a lessened chance of developing cancer?
As we say, in recent decades, in-depth studies have attempted to determine whether certain blood groups dictate the likelihood of being diagnosed with a certain condition.
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Yesterday, Tyla reported that Type O individuals have a lessened chance of being dealt a form of heart disease - possibly in comparison to other blood groups having certain clotting factors caused by solidifying proteins.
And it's further bad news for types A, B and AB, being that these three blood groups have also been closely associated with a higher risk of developing stomach cancer.
As we say, a 2015 study has ruled that the Type O blood group has a lessened risk of such a diagnosis - though, it's vital to note that no significant correlation between blood groups and mortality rates in cancer cases.
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Such was also the pattern in pancreatic cancer diagnoses - with Types A, B, and AB blood types having an increased risk.
Meanwhile, O blood type has been linked with a reduced risk of various colorectal cancer.
Dr Sanjay Aggarwal - a general physician at Holistic Healthcare Centre in Delhi - recently emphasised, however: "It may be more accurate to say people with type O blood are at a lower risk for pancreatic cancer, given the work researchers are doing on bacterial infection."
Rhianna Benson