Red blood cell production - Health Video: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia (2024)

FAQs

What vitamin is important for red blood cell production? ›

Your body needs vitamin B12 to make red blood cells. In order to provide vitamin B12 to your cells: You must eat foods that contain vitamin B12, such as meat, poultry, shellfish, eggs, fortified breakfast cereals, and dairy products.

Nutrition and red blood cells

Foods rich in iron help you maintain healthy red blood cells. Vitamins are also needed to build healthy red blood cells. These include vitamins B-2, B-12, and B-3, found in foods, such as eggs, whole grains, and bananas. Folate also helps.

Your body needs iron and other nutrients to make hemoglobin and healthy red blood cells. So it's important to get a regular supply of iron as well as vitamin B12, folate, and protein. You can get these nutrients by eating a balanced diet or taking dietary supplements.

Folic acid helps your body make red blood cells. Dietary sources of folic acid include leafy green vegetables (like kale and spinach), beans, peanuts, liver, and seafood.

The body might make more red blood cells as a response to conditions that result in low oxygen levels. These might include: Congenital heart disease in adults. COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) — the blanket term for a group of diseases that block airflow from the lungs — including emphysema.

Diseases that cause ongoing inflammation can keep the body from making enough red blood cells. Examples are cancer, HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease and Crohn's disease. Aplastic anemia. This rare, life-threatening anemia occurs when the body doesn't make enough new blood cells.

Red blood cell (RBC) production (erythropoiesis) takes place in the bone marrow under the control of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO). Peritubular interstitial fibroblasts in the kidney produce erythropoietin in response to decreased oxygen delivery (as in anemia or hypoxia).

What is a low red blood cell count and how to increase. A low red blood cell (RBC) count increases the risk of anemia. Ways of boosting RBCs include eating foods that contain iron, vitamins B12 and B9, vitamin C, vitamin A, and copper. Increasing exercise levels and reducing alcohol intake may also help.

Which two vitamins help the body to make healthy red blood cells? ›

Vitamin B12 or folate deficiency anaemia occurs when a lack of either of these vitamins affects the body's ability to produce fully functioning red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body.

Beetroots. Beetroots are rich in iron, vitamin C, and folic acid, making them a powerful food to increase blood levels. Additionally, beetroots contain nitrates that improve blood flow and oxygen delivery to the cells. You can enjoy beetroots in salads, juices, or even roasted as a side dish.

The most common cause of aplastic anemia is from your immune system attacking the stem cells in your bone marrow. Other factors that can injure bone marrow and affect blood cell production include: Radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

Your body needs vitamin B12 to make healthy red blood cells , white blood cells , and platelets . Since your body doesn't make vitamin B12, you have to get it from the foods you eat or from supplements.

Epoetin injection is a man-made version of human erythropoietin (EPO). EPO is produced naturally in the body, mostly by the kidneys. It causes the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. If the body does not produce enough red blood cells, severe anemia can occur.

There's also emerging evidence that vitamin D plays a more direct role in the production of red blood cells. Vitamin D may support the normal growth of the cells that produce red blood cells. It's important to remember that it's not just low levels of vitamin D that can lead to anemia.

Folate works with vitamin B12 to help form red blood cells. It is needed for the production of DNA, which controls tissue growth and cell function. Any woman who is pregnant should be sure to get enough folate. Low levels of folate are linked to birth defects such as spina bifida.