Your blood. You hardly ever see it. Yet, it is the very thing that keeps you going. Check how many of the following facts you knew. Think about them next time you cut a finger or need a blood transfusion.

• The average adult man has about five to six litres of blood in his body, while the average woman has about four.
• Your blood makes up about 7% of your total body weight.
• About 95% of the body’s blood cells are made in bone marrow.
• There are approximately 1 billion red blood cells in two to three drops of blood.
• There are three types of blood cells: Red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, all of which float around in plasma. The blood that you donate can be separated into these constituent parts.
• Your body usually replaces the volume of the blood you donate within 24 hours. Restoring red blood cell levels to normal can take up to two months though.
• Whole blood has a shelf-life of 35 days. Red blood cells last 42 days, platelets only five days and plasma up to one year.
• The most common blood type is O positive, while AB negative is the rarest. People with AB blood can receive any kind of blood from a donor, while O negative blood can be given to anyone.
• Scientists recently managed to change type A and B blood into type O. If this process can one day be done on a large scale, it would go a long way to alleviating the persistent shortage of blood.
• If you are healthy, you will be eligible to donate blood up to 330 times in your life.

Sources:

• American Red Cross http://chapters.redcross.org/br/northernohio/INFO/facts.html
• BloodCentres.org
  http://www.bloodcentres.org/aboutblood/bloodfacts.htm
• Western Province Blood Donation Service
  http://www.blood.org.za/donorgeneral.html

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