There are four main blood groups (types of blood) – A, B, AB and O. Your blood group is tenacious by the genes you inherit from your parents. Each group can be either RhD positive or RhD negative, which designates in total there are eight main blood groups.

Blood Platelets are minute blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding. If one of your blood vessels gets damaged, it sends out signals that are picked up by platelets. The platelets then rush to the site of damage and form a plug, or clot, to repair the damage.

Blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to the cells and transports waste substances away from them. In every two to three drops of blood, there are about one billion red cells. And for every 600 red blood cells, there are about 40 platelets and one white blood cell.

Red Cells

Each red blood cell has haemoglobin that carries oxygen to the cells of the body and transports carbon dioxide from the cells to the lungs for excretion. Manufactured in the bone marrow, red blood cells are continuously being produced and broken down. They live for approximately 120 days in the circulatory system before they are removed by the spleen.

White Cells

White cells are responsible for cleansing the body and fighting off infections. However, they are usually not used for transfusion as the white cells from donations are not useful after 24 hours.

Platelets

These are small cell fragments in your blood whose main function, along with clotting factors, is to stop bleeding. When a blood vessel is damaged, platelets will become “glued” together at the damage site to form a platelet plug, which prevents blood from leaking out.

Plasma

Approximately 55% of blood is plasma. Plasma is like a river that carries the solid cells and platelets to all parts of the body. They contain special proteins such as albumin and immuno-globulins which are antibodies that fight infection and cancer, as well as clotting factors – special proteins that help blood to clot.

Relationship between Haemoglobin and Iron

Iron is one of the important elements in the production of haemoglobin, which is responsible for carrying oxygen to your body tissues. When there is enough iron to meet your daily needs, any additional iron is stored in your body for future use.