Green plasma in a female blood donor taking oral contraceptive pill

Strawberry milky-white blood donor's plasma: signaling uncontrolled diabetic lipemia

Intake of a fatty meal before donating blood can lead to an increased level of plasma triglyceride concentration for several hours. This may cause either turbid and or "milky-white" appearance of their venous plasma samples. We, however, report a peculiar case about a male blood donor from India, whose plasma appeared to be "strawberry milky-white" in colour. On inquiry, he gave a history of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus type-II. Further, this was affirmed by his high blood glucose concentration [nearly 326mg/dL] and HbA1c [13.7%] respectively. Moreover, his plasma triglyceride concentration was elevated up to 376mg/dL. His treatment was started at our hospital and the strawberry colour of his plasma, dramatically recovered to normal straw-colour after achieving a fairly good glycemic control with the insulin therapy.

Deciphering the reasons for milky-white blood donor plasma

Donors who eat a fatty meal before donating blood are known to have an increased level of plasma triglyceride concentrations for several hours. This may contribute to "milky-white" appearance of their plasma samples. We herein report the case of a blood donor who gave a history of the intake of a fatty meal, on the night prior to donation. This was affirmed by his serum lipid concentration done on the following day and on repeating the same subsequently after two weeks of donation respectively.