Vegetarian / Vegan blood transfusions?

I'm serious about being a vegetarian, and I am one for almost every reason you can think of. I recently wondered if there is a form or way or something that if you are vegan or vegetarian and in need of a blood transfusion at some point, that you can receive blood from people that are the same, and not from people that do eat meat. I know this may sound like a ridiculous question, but the thought of it just bothered me a bit. And plus I am just curious. Also if anyone here has any medical experience or whatever, can you tell me differences between diet types and how they effect blood?

Please see the web page for more details on Blood substitutes.

If you're really serious about being healthy as well as being vegan, I would recommend seeing a dietician. Your doctor's office should be able to refer you.

About your transfusions question, the answer is no. When blood is donated, once it leaves the clinic it is just a number and has no ties to the person it came from. It goes through so many tests and facilities that by the time it gets to you, even if you had the means to trace the facility it came from, which you can't, there are no ties to the donor and it would be illegal for you to try to find out information about the person it came from anyway.

Short answer: no

That information isn't even collected about blood donors. You also cannot choose your blood donor based on gender, race, age or anything other than blood type.

The only thing I would expect to be different in the blood of a vegan is a lower hematocrit if iron intake was insufficient. (That would make the blood have less oxygen carrying capacity, and be less effective). People with very low hematocrits are rejected as donors.

You cannot select vegetarian/vegan blood transfusions from everyone else. The biggest differences you will find in diet is people who eat meat tend to have higher hemoglobin levels and also tend to have higher cholesterol (although you can eat a lot of meat and still have very good cholesterol or eat no meat and have genetics that still cause it to be higher than ideal).

As far as a blood transfusion issue, they now have blood-free products that have been developed because Jehovah Witnesses will refuse blood products and this provides necessary volume expanders if they are bleeding from surgery or trauma. You could talk to your doctor about this option and he could make a note in your chart of your belief. You would also probably want to carry a card in your wallet saying this in case you were in a car accident and they needed to give you something immediately.