Every time you donate blood or platelets, you’re helping people with cancer, trauma patients, premature babies and organ transplants; just to name a few. The American Red Cross relies on the generosity of donors like you, to help provide hope and life to those patients in need.
To help them regain their health, the Red Cross relies on healthy donors. Before donating blood, donors complete a private and confidential health history interview and receive a mini-physical to make sure they’re healthy enough to donate.
We recommend that you maintain a nutritious, well-balanced diet with foods rich in iron and high in vitamin C. These healthy tips will also help keep you a healthy blood donor:
Part of maintaining good, overall health as a blood donor is healthy iron levels. We encourage some donors, specifically young and frequent donors, to speak with their health-care provider about adding a multivitamin with iron or iron supplement to help maintain healthy iron levels.