Stream Media

A professor of haematology and transfusion medicine, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, and consultant haematologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Sulaimon Akanmu, tells ARUKAINO UMUKORO about the use of products, popularly referred to as ‘blood tonics’ What are the major functions of the blood in the body? A major function of the blood to the human body is that it collects and delivers oxygen from the lungs to the tissues via an important protein component called the haemoglobin in the red blood cell. The absence of the red cells and therefore haemoglobin means oxygen will not get to the body tissues, like the heart or the brain, which means the life span of a person can end within 180 minutes. Without blood collecting and delivering oxygen to the tissues, there is no life. The second major function of the blood is to transport rich metabolic products such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide throughout the body. Also, the white blood cells provide the body with a