Eat well. Give blood.

We've partnered with UK plant-based food brand BOSH! to help donors maintain healthy haemoglobin levels through the delicious, iron-rich meals in the new Eat Well, Give Blood recipe eBook.

The iron you eat in food plays a crucial role in the production of haemoglobin in the body. Haemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells that carries oxygen around your body. It is what gives blood its red colour.

Haemoglobin levels vary from person to person, but if yours are low you may experience fatigue, headaches, and shortness of breath. To be able to donate blood, plasma, or platelets, your haemoglobin levels must be relatively high. If they are not high enough, we will ask you not to donate for a few months as a safety measure.

We recommend eating three portions of iron-rich food a day. Although iron is more easily absorbed from meat, there are plenty of non-meat sources of it, meaning people following a well-balanced vegetarian or vegan diet should get enough iron.

BOSH! is one of the UK's most influential plant-based food brands, having sold over 1 million cookbooks, the latest of which has been created with blood, plasma, and platelet donation in mind.

Eat Well, Give Blood is a free eBook packed with 15 tasty, plant-based recipes with lots of iron-rich foods such as tofu, beans and pulses, and leafy green vegetables. The recipes have been approved by the British Dietetic Association.

From berry beetroot smoothie breakfasts to tofu, lettuce, tomato sandwiches for lunch and black bean and spinach curry for dinner, the eBook serves up plenty to get your teeth into.

For more information on haemoglobin and iron, watch our video below.

Download the BOSH! Eat Well, Give Blood eBook here.

The Eat Well, Give Blood eBook requires email registration. NHS Blood and Transplant cannot guarantee external content meets our accessibility standards.