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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Fosheze@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

So I just went and donated blood again and durring the recovery period it occured to me that it takes quite a bit of work for your body to regenerate that lost blood volume and the actual blood cells. Regrowing that many cells seems like it would be fairly energetically intensive. So how many calories does producing all those new blood cells actually consume? Is there even a way to know that?

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[-] fubo@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The number floating around the web is 650 calories but I haven't been able to track down the actual source.

(Google Scholar is no help at all. Whoever these UCSD researchers are, I have no bloody clue.)

[-] Overzeetop@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

So I can shotgun two pints of beer after a donation (gotta rehydrate!) and still be a couple hundred calories ahead? Win-win!

[-] jscummy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

And you'll get drunker due to the blood loss!

[-] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago

Jokes aside, you shouldn't drink alcohol the day before and after your donation

[-] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

Oh man, instead of my daily workout, I could just donate daily! After a few months, I’d be a blood making machine!

[-] Klystron@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 year ago

If you're however old you are now and still not a blood making machine, I'd say see a doctor.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

As a chronically anemic person, I need other people's blood making machines.

Go donate if you can! I will take your sweet, sweet red blood cells.

[-] drcobaltjedi@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

I'm at nearly 50 donations (each 0.5L) of sweet sweet O+. Apparently, my blood is really good for children since I've never contracted some specific disease.

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

That would be CMV. Newborn babies and pregnant women and cancer kids need CMV-negative blood (if they need a blood transfusion). Thank you for donating.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_betaherpesvirus_5

[-] variants@possumpat.io 12 points 1 year ago

But once your body gets used to pumping out so much extra blood, if you skip donate day you will plump up and explode

[-] ultratiem@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

It’s something you’ll never truly figure out and can’t really as your body is a constant state of maintenance. When my brother was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia, the next day he didn’t really grow a beard. Makes sense. When you’re at deaths door, maybe don’t worry about growing hair.

Your body is always managing resources.

Basically it’s going to take the energy needed from other maintenance items (hair, nails, skin, etc.) and devote them to blood manufacturing. It’s also going to cut your energy to save calories so you’ll feel pretty sluggish for a bit.

How we currently deal with calories is just wildly misleading.

[-] HappySquid@feddit.ch 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah. "Calories in calories out" is correct in theory but it is an oversimplification. Most people burn a vastly majority of their calories "at rest" by just maintaining their body temperature.

[-] dynamojoe@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I dunno. I usually give platelets.

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this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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