Blood donation may reduce the risk of heart attack in men, say researchers at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Kansas University Medical Center, USA. A study conducted on blood donors and non-donors shows that those who had never given blood were twice as likely to have sustained a heart attack as those who had donated blood in the last three years. A few specific types of cardiovascular disease were found to be nearly three times more common in non-donors. The researchers did not find any link between blood donation and protection against heart disease among women (British Medical Journal , 27 August, 1997).