It is also recommended that the donor have a good meal within four hours of donating. Limiting dietary fat intake and avoiding alcohol for 24 hours before the donation are advised. In a routine blood donation, one pint of whole blood is given. In that pint, there will be nearly a half pint of red cells but less than an ounce of platelets and only a thimbleful of white cells. The red cells and plasma can be separated from a pint of whole blood rather easily.
Platelets are another matter.
Although platelets can be separated from whole blood with only moderate difficultly, the small amount obtained from a single pint of blood has limited beneficial effect. To be useful to patients, it is often necessary to give a transfusion equal to the platelets from at least six pints of whole blood. And these transfusions may have to be given several times per week. With a Super Donation, more platelets can be taken safely from one donor, since the other parts of the blood are returned. Without Super Donations, many more donors would be needed to make these transfusions possible.