"Nature Medicine" Astronauts destroy 54% more red blood cells in space than on Earth!

A world-first study has revealed how space travel can cause a drop in red blood cell counts, known as space anemia

"Since the first space missions, astronauts have often returned to Earth with space anemia, but we don't know why," said the study's lead author, Dr.

Before this study, space anemia was thought to be a rapid adaptation to fluids entering astronauts' upper bodies when they first reached space

Instead, Dr.

On Earth, our bodies produce and destroy 2 million red blood cells every second

Dr.

While the team did not directly measure red blood cell production, they hypothesized that the astronauts produced extra red blood cells to compensate for the cells they destroyed

"Thankfully, red blood cell reduction isn't a problem in space when your body is weightless," Trudell said

In the study, five of the 13 astronauts had clinical anemia on landing -- and one of the 14 astronauts had no blood drawn on landing

Interestingly, the team repeated the same measurements a year after the astronauts returned to Earth and found that red blood cell destruction was still 30 percent higher than before the flight

The finding that space travel increases red blood cell destruction has several implications

The findings can also be applied to life on Earth

"If we can figure out the exact cause of this anemia, it may be possible to treat or prevent the disease, both for astronauts and for patients on Earth," Dr.

Dr Trudell said: "These findings are astonishing, given that these measurements had never been done before, we didn't know if we would find anything

Magazine

Nature Medicine

DOI

10.
1038/s41591-021-01637-7