Your O+ Blood Is Important - Miller-Keystone Blood Center, Pennsylvania & New Jersey (2024)

FAQs

What is special about o-positive blood? ›

Over 80% of the population has a positive blood type and can receive O positive blood. That's another reason it's in such high demand. O positive donors who are CMV negative are known as Heroes for Babies at the Red Cross because it is the safest blood for transfusions for immune deficient newborns.

The need for O+ is high because it is the most frequently occurring blood type (37% of the population). The universal red cell donor has Type O negative blood. The universal plasma donor has Type AB blood.

Approximately 38% of the population has O positive blood, making it the most common blood type, too. And, while O positive red blood cells are not universally compatible to all types, they are compatible to any red blood cells that are positive (A+, B+, O+, AB+).

Type O negative red cells can be given to patients of all blood types. Because only 7% of people in the U.S. are type O negative, it's always in great demand and often in short supply.

Those with type O blood should choose high-protein foods and eat lots of meat, vegetables, fish, and fruit but limit grains, beans, and legumes. To lose weight, seafood, kelp, red meat, broccoli, spinach, and olive oil are best; wheat, corn, and dairy are to be avoided.

Most common blood type by ethnicity

Latin American: 53% O-positive, 29% A-positive, and 9% B-positive. Asian: 39% O-positive, 27% A-positive, and 25% B-positive. Caucasian: 37% O-positive, 33% A-positive, and 9% B-positive.

Of the eight main blood types, people with Type O have the lowest risk for heart attacks and blood clots in the legs and lungs.

Based on the concept of blood type personalities, people with blood type O positive are often confident, self-determined, optimistic, and strong-willed. They are sometimes believed to be natural leaders, passionate, and resilient. They're also thought to be outgoing and sociable.

Theoretically yes, but it would be extremely rare. Two O parents will get an O child nearly all of the time. But as with anything in biology, there are occasional exceptions to this rule.

How do you get o-positive blood? ›

Those with type O blood have inherited the O gene from each parent.

Type O negative blood is the universal red cell donor. This means that a person that is O negative can donate his blood to anyone regardless of that person's blood type. Type AB positive is the universal plasma donor. This means that a person with this blood type can donate blood to anyone.

What's the rarest blood type? AB negative is the rarest of the eight main blood types - just 1% of our donors have it.

Type O is generally the most in-demand blood type because it can be transfused with the most patients, regardless of blood type. O-negative blood can be given to a patient with any other blood type, which is why people with this most needed blood type are called universal donors.

In order to be group O, you need both parent cells to be O. But group O is still more common simply because it is the ancestral form. The A and B mutations appeared in the last 20,000 years and haven't spread through the population yet.

Most common blood type by ethnicity

African American: 47% O-positive, 24% A-positive, and 18% B-positive. Latin American: 53% O-positive, 29% A-positive, and 9% B-positive. Asian: 39% O-positive, 27% A-positive, and 25% B-positive. Caucasian: 37% O-positive, 33% A-positive, and 9% B-positive.

A person who is blood type O has to be genetically OO (receiving a gene that codes for neither A nor B from one parent and a gene that codes for neither A or B from another parent). The possible blood types of the parents include OO, AO, and BO.

Now, here both the parents are of O blood group. The recessive character show a phenotypic effect only in hom*ozygous state. So, the progeny formed if both parents are of O blood group is O.