Doctors Reveal The Blood Type With The Lowest Cancer Risk
Knowing your blood type can matter for more than emergencies. Some doctors say it may also play a role in long term health, including cancer risk, based on findings from earlier research that looked closely at patterns across different blood groups.
A study from 2015 suggested that only one blood group showed a reduced chance of developing certain cancers. That raised interest in whether blood type could influence how likely someone is to face specific diagnoses later in life.
Finding out your blood type is usually simple. You can ask during a routine blood test or when donating blood, although most people are not told unless it becomes medically necessary.
Many people first learn their blood type during pregnancy or treatment for a health issue. While blood type is inherited from parents, guessing is not reliable, especially when transfusions or urgent care are involved.
There are four main blood groups: A, B, AB, and O. Each one is also classified as positive or negative, depending on whether the blood carries the Rh protein.
Researchers have studied whether these groups are linked to certain diseases. In recent reporting, Type O blood was associated with a lower risk of heart disease compared to other groups, possibly due to differences in clotting factors.
The same research trend has not been good news for types A, B, and AB. These groups have been linked to a higher risk of stomach cancer in multiple studies.
The 2015 study found that Type O blood had a reduced risk of stomach cancer. However, it also noted there was no significant link between blood type and cancer death rates.
A similar pattern appeared in pancreatic cancer, where types A, B, and AB showed increased risk. Type O, on the other hand, was linked to a lower risk in several cases.
Type O blood has also been associated with a reduced risk of certain colorectal cancers. Doctors caution that this does not mean immunity, only a relative difference in risk.
A general physician recently said: “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.”
