Biology Forum Human Biology How many calories in blood??

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    • #1156
      mr bollocks
      Participant

      how many calories are there in a litre of blood? for comparison heres a list of the content of some other drinks (per litre):

      fruit juice – 400
      skimmed milk – 350
      full fat milk – 700
      water – 0
      olive oil – 850

    • #24467
      biostudent84
      Participant

      I wouldn’t think there would be nearly that much. Thrombocytes (red blood cells) don’t do much that require energy. They are moved around the body through mucsular pumps (the heart), and the process of oxygenating or deoxygenating does not require energy.

    • #24547
      MrMistery
      Participant

      ok… i’m a little confused Kyle…. First of all, from what i know thromocytes have a role in coagulation, red blood cells are erytrocytes.
      Second, wasn’t he asking you many calories would blood have as in if you were going to drink it?

    • #24549
      mith
      Participant

      I think he’s saying that if red blood cells required much energy, there would be more energy available in the bloodstream or the cells themselves would have vast reserves.

    • #24554
      MrMistery
      Participant

      Yes that is logic enough… but i don’t see how it goes the other way… Why can’t the blood have a lot of calories even if red blood cells do not need a lot of energy?
      I think it should have some calories because it contains cells(which give you energy when you digest them), nutrients, hormones(which can be proteins or lipids so also give energy). Let’s not forget hemoglobine-it should give a few calories

    • #24564
      biostudent84
      Participant
      quote MrMistery:

      Yes that is logic enough… but i don’t see how it goes the other way… Why can’t the blood have a lot of calories even if red blood cells do not need a lot of energy?
      I think it should have some calories because it contains cells(which give you energy when you digest them), nutrients, hormones(which can be proteins or lipids so also give energy). Let’s not forget hemoglobine-it should give a few calories

      Because where red blood cells don’t DO all that much, they don’t need to have much stored energy. The overwhelming bulk of energy that we get from ingesting food is from already created and stored sugars and fats. Where red blood cells don’t need all that much of stored sugars and fats, there would be little energy a human could get out of drinking blood.

    • #24573
      b_d_41501
      Participant

      Unless you’re a vampire. lol 😈

    • #24601
      biostudent84
      Participant
      quote b_d_41501:

      Unless you’re a vampire. lol 😈

      Even with people who call themselves vampires…..as well as vampires in legends……drinking blood is not really for sustenance. The practise is said to drain the “life force” into the vampire. They see it as sucking the soul out of the person, rather than simply drinking blood.

    • #101197
      DavidnotMD
      Participant

      There are approx 425 calories per standard blood donation of 500 ml for women, 460 for men. Men calculate higher because they have a higher red blood cell content than women. To see the details of the math, search eHow for "calories human blood."

      The calorie analysis is based on the protein, carbohydrate and fat content of the components of blood. Some of the substances in blood (cholesterol, heme) do not get broken down to calorie generating compounds.

      The calorie cost of replacing these components would be higher, but not a lot higher.

    • #101450
      Julie5
      Participant

      Wouldn’t the blood in the hepatic portal vein have the most calories, as it carries the most food (ie, highest concentration)?

      If so, maybe vampires are sucking in the wrong place!

    • #101740
      gayoc
      Participant

      It is supposed to be 5 grams of glucose circulating in our blood. And in 1 liter of blood, it contains 1 gram. So blood definitely contains calories on this analysis.

    • #101774
      Wilddwarf
      Participant

      You all seem to be taking this rather well. This guy is asking how many calories there are in blood. Why else would you ask the calorie content of something unless you’re considering consuming it. That seems the most logical conclusion. If so, this guy is real messed up. Drinking blood is just plain nasty. Getting the blood would either involve killing people or animals, or stealing it from a blood bank. It’s also demonized in many religions, for very good reasons, and it can transfer diseases. Oh, and I almost forgot:

      quote :

      how many calories are there in a litre of blood? for comparison heres a list of the content of some other drinks (per litre):

      He’s referring to blood as a drink. What more do you need to be suspicious?

    • #101883
      DavidnotMD
      Participant

      Blood (not human) is used as food in many cultures. Examples include blood sausage, ducks’ blood soup and "blood tofu" (congealed blood cut into cubes and used in stir-fry). Heating the blood via cooking would deactivate any bacteria, viruses or parasites.

      Oh, my earlier answer of a bit more than 400 calories was for a standard U.S. donation of 500 ml. So a liter’s worth would be twice that.

      gayoc – yes, very little from the glucose in blood, but you have to also count the protein and fat content. Most of the calories are from the protein.

    • #103886
      Rhyden
      Participant

      I agree with DavidnotMD.
      The Masai tribe in Africa drink raw cattle blood.

      I’m here looking for the calories in blood because I love black pudding (which is made from mostly cooked pig blood and cereal). Thinking eating it grilled would be ok as blood itself didn’t have calories. Obviously I was wrong. Back to the low calorie diet drawing board…

    • #105334
      philipsteele
      Participant

      In my knowledge I think 1 pint of human blood includes 650 calories…

    • #109160
      Oklahomapete
      Participant

      To Wilddrwarf,
      I think you are too certain in your condemnation of the person asking question. There is another explanation for the question. While giving (donating) blood, I have often wondered how many calories I am loosing during the donation. This is certainly something the blood bank might be interested in advertising in order to incentivize donors if they knew how many calories they were getting rid of. Sounds Ike it is the equivalent of running 2 km!

    • #109165
      JackBean
      Participant

      😆 You wanna loose weight? Go donate blood! The more you donate the more weight you loose! 😆

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