Bone marrow is essential for blood, immunity, and overall wellness

Your body is a complex system, comprising cells, blood, bones, organs, tissues and other little biological intricacies. One of these special parts is a spongy substance – bone marrow.

Quick Read:

  • Red marrow makes blood cells; yellow marrow stores fat.
  • Bone marrow is made of stem cells.
  • Red bone marrow makes up all of your bone marrow until about age seven. Yellow bone marrow gradually replaces red bone marrow as you age.

Bone marrow lives at the centre of your bones and its job is to create bone marrow stem cells, which later develop into blood cells.

Two types of bone marrow

Your entire bone marrow is red until you’re about seven years old. As you get older, yellow bone marrow slowly starts to replace red bone marrow.

The red blood cells are created by red bone marrow and the yellow bone marrow stores fat. In yellow bone marrow, there are two different types of stem cells. These cells create bone, cartilage, muscles and fat cells for your body. They also store fat for energy production.

What’s so important about bone marrow?

Since bone marrow is an essential element of your body, its absence can have harmful effects. Every type of blood cell that the bone marrow creates serves an important purpose.

  • The tissues of the body receive oxygen from red blood cells.
  • The bone marrow produces platelets, which play a vital role in blood clotting and help prevent bleeding when blood vessels are injured.
  • White blood cells help fight off infections.
The importance of bone marrow

Health conditions and bone marrow

Unfortunately, there are some health conditions that are linked to bone marrow. Many of these illnesses have an impact on the quantity of blood cells made in the bone marrow, and their varied symptoms are wide-ranging.

  • Fever, where there’s a lack of healthy white blood cells.
  • Weakness or drowsiness is a result of haemoglobin deficiency (the oxygen-carrying protein found in red blood cells).
  • Constant infections stem from a lack of healthy white blood cells, which help fight against infections.
  • Breathing problems are caused by a decreased number of red blood cells by producing less oxygen that reaches your body’s tissues.
  • Simple bruising and bleeding mean there’s less healthy platelets present, which are necessary for your blood to clot.

Can I keep bone marrow healthy?

Absolutely! As with most health conditions, great nutrition is the best start. Fill up your diet with protein from lean meat, fish, beans, nuts, eggs, and milk. Speak to your doctor about a B vitamin. You may need iron and B12.

Most importantly, if you have a health condition, be sure to manage it well, take your medication as prescribed, and always go to your doctor if you experience any abnormal symptoms.

Remember, bone marrow is found in all your bones. It’s vital to the body as it contains immune system cells as well as stem cells that produce blood cells. Stem cells in the bone marrow mature in the body into a variety of cell types, each of which performs a specific function that benefits the body.

Images: Freepik