By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Blood disorders are conditions that keep components of the blood from doing their jobs. This means that we have to know the various components of the blood because when these are adversely affected, then disorders occur. As of now, there are 4 main components of blood- red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. I say “as of now” because our gadgets in the future may be able to identify other components not detected at present. No human can ever fathom the complexity of creation and the wisdom of the Creator so let our imagination be free.
Let’s start with red blood cells (RBC). These RBCs carry oxygen from the lungs to the heart which then pumps blood to various parts of the body. You know what, one RBC contains millions of molecules of a substance called hemoglobin (some say 250M, some say 270M). One molecule of hemoglobin can bind 4 molecules of oxygen. So one RBC carries 1 billion molecules of oxygen at a time! Imagine that one red blood cell (RBC) is a truck that can carry millions of minicrates and one minicrate holds 4 pieces oxygen. Wow, mind-boggling! To think that, normally, there are about 4-6 million red blood cells per microliter of blood, depending if you are male or female and if you are young or adult.. Geez, it’s beyond my imagination already. I suspect math was used to calculate this figure. Because how can you actually physically count red blood cells? Anyway, let us just say our RBCs normally carry countless molecules of oxygen to all our body tissues and carry back the waste called carbon dioxide to the lungs where we exhale it to the air for the plants to use. It’s important, then, that we exhale so plants can live and we live. Because this function of breathing is so vital for our survival, God made it automatic. Try to hold your breath and you will gasp after a few seconds. BTW, hemoglobin contains iron which, when it interacts with oxygen, turns red, giving blood its red color. So when it unloads oxygen and replaces it with carbon dioxide, the color of blood turns bluish or less red (look at your veins).
The most common type of blood disorder is disorder of the red blood cells. The most common disorder of the RBCs is anemia. Anemia is a lack of healthy RBCs and the most common cause is iron-deficiency anemia. This means that there is not enough iron to make hemoglobin and the outcome will be less carriers of oxygen. In our analogy, there will be less minicrates in the truck so even if your breathe well, there is just not enough space for oxygen. As a consequence of less oxygen in the body, you will easily get tired, you look pale (look at your lips and unpainted nails), there is dizziness and general weakness.
If the iron-deficiency is caused by a bad diet, then just put more dark greens and beans (green beans and legumes) and brown rice. There may be other causes of anemia but as in all other disorders, we can remedy the disorder by ordering our diet to be in harmony with the seasons and to be in harmony with the environment. Do we look expectantly to what Mother Nature provides? (To be continued)***
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“The eyes of all look expectantly to you, and you give them their food in due season.” Psalm 145:5
