Must Read: Things that people with 'O' blood type should know

Your blood type or group is something you should have realised is very important by now and if you happen to have O type of blood, here are a number of things you should know.

Pregnancy risks
This has nothing to do with your “letter” blood type, or the type determined by the ABO grouping system. This has to do with the Rh factor, which determines whether your blood group is positive or negative. This factor could cause complications in pregnant women if the baby’s Rh type is different from the mother’s.

For instance, if the mother has a negative blood type and the baby has a positive one, the mother’s body can actually build up antibodies against the baby’s blood type. Luckily, this doesn’t affect the baby, but it could have a disastrous effect on future pregnancies. Fortunately, doctors can give pregnant women a shot early in their pregnancy that can prevent Rh-incompatibility problems.

Stroke: Type O has the lowest risk
Researchers have found that people who have any other blood type asides O (which is the most common), have a 9 percent higher risk of cardiovascular issues such as stroke.

Scientists are still investigating why this might be; but one possible explanation offered so far is that non-O blood types contain more of the Von Willebrand factor, a protein that has been connected to blood clotting and stroke in the past.

Mosquitoes like Type O blood
If you find yourself scratching insect bites regularly, it could be that your blood group is to blame. Type Os are as much as twice as attractive to mosquitoes as type As, with type Bs falling in the middle.

More so, 85% of people secrete a substance that”broadcasts” their blood type to mosquitoes. This makes those little blood-suckers become far more attracted to those people, irrespective of what group they carry.

Fertility: Type O reduces it
According to an Albert Einstein College of Medicine study, Women with blood type O are twice as likely to have blood levels of the hormone FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) high enough to indicate low ovarian reserve, a measure of fertility.

Researchers couldn’t say for sure why, though, especially given that type O blood is the most prevalent worldwide and there is no reason to worry much about it. Age is a far more important risk factor for fertility problems.