Red… White… What’s the difference?

Our bodies are full of cells of every type and nature but the two most commonly known yet least understood are our red and white blood cells.

White Blood Cells

White blood cells can be seen as an important line of defense within our bodies… they travel all throughout our bodies through the blood stream with only one goal, finding bacteria, viruses or any other type of foreign intruder that somehow got into our bodies and wipe them out! Our skin is an incredibly difficult barrier for germs to penetrate but once they get through (either from a cut, infection or other methods), they have incredible access to every vital system within our body. Put another way, white blood cells can be seen as the anti-virus software that kicks in after your passwords have been compromised on your computer.

They carry with them a number of weapons such an antibodies and the ability to actually devour their intended victims. They also have one more weapon up their sleeve, if they find a bug that is too powerful for one or a few white blood cells to handle, they can call up re-enforcements… how is that for smart! They are in constant motion throughout our bodies, always on high alert and willing to attack anything that seems abnormal.

Although they can live for a few weeks in our bodies if chance is on their side, white blood cells usually die off and get recycled by our bodies. They are brave little soldiers that work tirelessly to keep us in top shape.

Red Blood Cells

White blood cells are to defense what red blood cells are to transportation. Their entire purpose is to simply bring oxygen to cells and take away their buildup of carbon dioxide as efficiently and effectively as possible. They get their color from the hemoglobin protein they carry within them, hemoglobin contains the element of Iron which is great at binding to both oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Every cell in our body requires oxygen to keep it alive and as a byproduct, carbon dioxide is produced and constantly builds up within our cells. If oxygen isn’t replenished and the carbon dioxide taken away, cells will slowly suffocate from oxygen deprivation or die in their own waste. The environment within our bodies is just as difficult and treacherous as the one we live in day to day.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Red blood cell are like white blood cells, they are in constant production by our body but red blood cells can last up to 100 days. They do a wonderful job within our bodies but sometimes things don’t always go the way intended. For instance, our red blood cells have a nasty habit of taking up carbon monoxide over oxygen if we live in polluted environments or smoke… causing us to essentially suffocate much like our internal cells from lack of oxygen.

Their shier numbers may also be a precursor of larger problems in our bodies, such as a count of over 50K white blood cells in a drop of blood may be indicative of Leukemia.

So, now you know the good and the bad but what about the ugly? Well, the worse part of having all these cells going through our body is that it causes a lot of wear and tear to happen all over the place, both on the production and removal end of things. For instance, did you know that the majority of your stool is really dead blood cells! Yep… although trying to imagine a body without any need for blood is extremely difficult so I guess somethings are necessary evils.

The Bottom Line

Blood cells are what keep us alive, why not return the favor by giving them a proper diet to live off!