Blood tastes like iron
For many people, blood actually tastes like iron, or at least somehow metallic. There's a reason for this: the hemoglobin molecule actually contains iron.
Why blood tastes like iron
To anticipate it right away: Not everyone will notice an iron taste in blood. However, many people feel that blood tastes "somehow metallic".
- In fact, blood contains the element "iron". In fact, it is the crucial atom in the hemoglobin molecule that is contained in the red blood cells (the erythrocytes).
- After all, the cell fraction of the blood contains more than 99% of these erythrocytes.
- And after all, the human blood volume of around 5 liters contains 25 trillion red blood cells - so it is not surprising that blood tastes like iron.
What hemoglobin is needed for
- As already mentioned, the most important ingredient in red blood cells is hemoglobin. This is colloquially the red blood pigment. Chemically, it is an iron-containing protein that is responsible for transporting oxygen.
- The hemoglobin molecule - like almost all biomolecules - has a complex structure. It consists of four polypeptide chains (also called globins), each of which carries a dye (called heme).
- In the middle of this heme part - one could almost say "well protected" - there is a divalent iron ion. To this Fe2+ Ion can store oxygen, even four oxygen molecules per hemoglobin molecule. Hemoglobin is used to transport oxygen in the blood, and iron in particular is responsible for this.
- The fact that the iron ion is "loaded" with oxygen is shown by the color of the hemoglobin: It changes its color from dark (without oxygen) to light red (oxygen is attached).
- By the way: Hemoglobin occurs in all vertebrates and even in some snails, insects and worms. So it is a very universal "invention" of the evolution. It is also called metal protein because of its iron content.
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