People with blood type A, B or AB may be significantly more likely to develop certain types of deadly cancer, research shows.
Meanwhile, those with type O negative or positive may be somewhat protected from the highly deadly pancreatic cancer.
A recent study of 50,000 Iranians found that those with blood type A, B or AB – around half of the UK population – have a 55 per cent higher risk of developing stomach cancer, compared to those with type O.
The study also found that people with blood type A are one-sixth more likely to develop colon cancer.
Another study conducted in 2016 on nearly 18,000 adults found that people with blood type AB were 45 percent more likely to develop liver cancer.
The same study found that people with blood types O and AB were about one-sixth less likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
The most common blood type in the UK is O positive, followed by A positive and A negative.
AB negative is the rarest group, making up only one percent of the population.
Experts aren't sure exactly why certain blood types increase the risk of cancer, especially those affecting the digestive tract.
One theory is that different blood types produce different immune system responses to threats like bacteria, causing changes in cells that increase the chance of developing cancer.
However, other experts have called for caution in interpreting links between blood types and cancer.
They pointed out that the number of participants in these studies is often small and that the research often does not take into account other factors that increase cancer risk, such as alcohol consumption or smoking.
There are four main blood groups, which are then divided into two further sub-groups, positive or negative, with O+ and A+ being the most common.
Together, these two blood types make up around 65 percent of all people in the UK, according to the NHS.
Blood type is inherited through your parents' genes and cannot be changed. /Express newspaper/
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