What Is Hemoglobin?

By jamie

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5. Iron

Our red blood cells are red because hemoglobin is red. Hemoglobin is red because it contains a metal that itself is red: iron. Iron has a high affinity with oxygen. What this basically means is that oxygen is more likely to stick to iron than it will to other elements around it. When hemoglobin does have oxygen molecules attached to it, it is known as oxyhemoglobin.

This means that iron is essential to us. Fortunately, it is a very common element in the food that we eat so getting what we need is not usually a problem. In instances where somebody needs to take on more iron, iron supplements should be just what they need.

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