What to do before

Donating blood is a relatively safe way to help people with serious medical conditions. Donating blood can lead to some side effects, though, like fatigue or anemia. Eating and drinking the right things before and after donating can help reduce your risk for side effects.

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What to eat and drink

If you’re donating blood, it’s important to stay hydrated before and after you donate. That’s because about half of your blood is made of water. It’s also good to increase your iron intake because you lose iron when you donate. Low iron levels can cause symptoms of fatigue.

Iron

Iron is an important mineral your body uses to make hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is responsible for carrying oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body.

Eating a well-balanced diet with plenty of iron-rich foods can help you store extra iron. If you don’t have enough iron stored away to make up for the iron you lose when donating blood, you can develop iron deficiency anemia.

There are two different types of iron found in foods: heme iron and nonheme iron. Heme iron is more easily absorbed, so it boosts your iron levels more effectively. Your body absorbs up to 30 percent of heme iron and only 2 to 10 percent of nonheme iron.

Before you donate blood, consider increasing your intake of iron-rich foods. This can help increase the iron stores in your body and reduce your risk for iron deficiency anemia.

Foods rich in heme iron include:

Meats, like beef, lamb, ham, pork, veal, and dried beef.

Poultry, such as chicken and turkey.

Fish and shellfish, like tuna, shrimp, clams, haddock, and mackerel.

Organs, such as liver.

Eggs.

Foods rich in nonheme iron include:

Vegetables, such asspinach, sweet potatoes, peas, broccoli, string beans, beet greens, dandelion greens, collards, kale, and chard.

Breads and cereals, includingenriched white bread, enriched cereal, whole-wheat bread, enriched pasta, wheat, bran cereals, cornmeal, oats, rye bread, and enriched rice.

Fruits, such as strawberries, watermelon, raisons, dates, figs, prunes, prune juice, dried apricots, and dried peaches.

Beans, including tofu, kidney, garbanzo, white, dried peas, dried beans, and lentils.

Vitamin C

Although heme iron will raise your iron levels more effectively, vitamin C can help your body better absorb plant-based iron, or nonheme iron.

Many fruits are a good source of vitamin C. Fruits high in this vitamin include:

  • cantaloupe
  • citrus fruits and juices
  • kiwi fruit
  • mango
  • papaya
  • pineapple
  • strawberries
  • raspberries
  • blueberries
  • cranberries
  • watermelon
  • tomatoes

Water

Around half of the blood you donate is made of water. This means you’ll want to be fully hydrated. When you lose fluids during the blood donation process, your blood pressure can drop, leading to dizziness. The American Red Cross recommends drinking an extra 16 ounces, or 2 cups, of water before donating blood. Other nonalcoholic beverages are fine, too.

This extra fluid is in addition to the recommended 72 to 104 ounces (9 to 13 cups) you should drink each day.