Eli5: What happens to old blood?

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I donate blood every chance I get, and I’m up to two gallons so far. I know the body produces more naturally, but if I weren’t to donate it, would that blood have just… gone to waste? Does it just break down like our old skin cells and get washed away? How much new blood do we produce in, say, a year?

In: Biology

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Your body is constantly breaking down and recycling old red blood cells in the spleen, and your bone marrow is building new ones and kicking them out to the bloodstream.
Blood cells circulate for about 120 days before they’re worn out.

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