I’ve only donated blood a couple of times in my life. The last time I did it, I experienced a bit of dizziness afterward, and since then, I’ve quietly decided to stop. The first time I gave blood, it was for my wife after the birth of our first baby. He will be seven years old later this month.
Everything seemed to go well from labour to delivery. She’d even been transferred from the labour room to the ward, and I had resumed my normal job after a night of watching over and adventuring alongside her. It was my first time experiencing and participating in childbirth, from the first contraction to the final suture. Then I got the call soon after: she was bleeding a lot, and rushed to the theatre for an emergency suture. A cervical tear had gone undetected during the cleanup.
Thank goodness she was rescued after about an hour of serious work, but she’d lost a lot of blood. I had to donate a pint, after which blood-giving vegetables were introduced to boost her blood. And that’s when I really began to think about what blood means, and how precarious the supply of it is worldwide.
According to the World Health Organization, around 118.5 million blood donations are collected globally each year. Yet 40% of those donations come from high-income countries that house only 16% of the world’s population. Conversely, in low-income countries the donation rate is as low as 5.0 per 1,000 people, versus 31.5 per 1,000 in high-income countries.
A modelling study estimated that in 2017 the global need was about 305 million units of blood, but supply only about 272 million units, leaving a shortfall of over 100 million units.
In short, the number of patients needing blood far outweighs the amount of donor blood available. And what if there were another way, safe and natural, to boost blood levels without a transfusion?
Enter the curious claim I saw recently. A post on X floated the idea that a combination of tomato paste (yes, tomato paste) and malt drink could raise a patient’s packed cell volume significantly. In one claim, the PCV rose from 18% to over 30% in under a month. That grabbed me. If that were true, it could reshape how we think about blood-boosting, especially in places with low supply.
But before we raise our glasses of malt-tomato and make plans, let’s check the basics. PCV is the percentage of your blood made up of red blood cells. Low PCV means fewer red cells, less oxygen delivery, fatigue, and often anaemia. Normal ranges vary by age and sex; for men roughly 38.8-50%, for women 34.9-44.5%.
Back to the claim of tomato paste plus malt drink boosting PCV. On one hand, I found a study in rats that showed tomato juice/paste improved hemoglobin and red-cell profiles in rats with induced anaemia. On the other hand, nutritional analysis says the claim is a myth: tomatoes aren’t a major iron source; malt drinks carry mainly carbs and some vitamins, not necessarily iron. No peer-reviewed human study backs the dramatic jump from PCV 18 to over 30 using this combo.
Which leaves me thinking. Yes, it’s worth investigating. Why? Because the shortage of donor blood is real and urgent, especially in low-resource settings like where I live. And if there were a safe, low-cost adjunct method to help people raise their PCV or improve red-cell mass, it might relieve some pressure. But we must be cautious. The claim is anecdotal, unverified in humans, and could lead to false hope or diversion from proven treatments.
In my heart, I believe it’s not simply a matter of attitude to research in my country; maybe the research isn’t being done because the idea is seen as too odd or lacking obvious commercial appeal. Or maybe it just hasn’t crossed the radar of motivated scientists. But given how real the shortage of blood is, and how personal the story became for me when my wife nearly lost a lot of hers, I’m urging that someone look into this tomato-paste + malt drink claim methodically: controlled human trials, measuring PCV, haemoglobin, iron status, safety, interactions.
Let’s investigate the claim but keep our expectations grounded. Also, let’s continue to support regular blood donation and build sustainable blood-supply systems. And yes, let’s keep an eye on promising food-based adjuncts, but only after the science is done.
Because for every pint I gave, and for every hour my wife spent in theatre, the truth is clear; blood matters. And anything that helps the world say “we need fewer transfusions because fewer people drop into crisis” is worth the extra lab coat, trial protocol, and micropipette.