Donating may boost cell health

As blood supplies teeter dangerously low, the NHS is calling on the public to donate regularly, especially those with

- 

Regularly giving blood may help the body produce healthy blood cells, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that men who had given blood more than 120 times in their life were more likely to have "beneficial" mutations in a gene associated with blood cancer.

When someone donates blood, stem cells in the bone marrow make new blood cells to replace the lost blood.

Experts at the Francis Crick Institute examined genetic data on more than 200 frequent male donors in Germany - people who had donated blood three times a year over 40 years, more than 120 times in total.