Ingesting Blood

[Yarn]

Obviously a lot of people are disgusted or titillated by the idea of drinking blood, but it seems like almost no one actually does it. The moral and practical barriers to drinking human blood are obvious, but animal blood is plentiful enough and probably plenty wasted. Do we avoid it just because of culturally taboo or are there medical reasons to avoid it? Presumably it would at least be a great source of iron. I've heard meat has hemoglobin in it, so we probably do ingest some blood, but why not drink it?

 

In the Old Testament, blood drinking is explicity forbidden, which presumably means some people did drink it back then.

[zapatos]

A few cultures have moral problems with drinking blood but I don't find the moral or practical barriers obvious. I would have no problem with it.

 

Very little animal blood is wasted when it is practical to use it.

 

I've had blood sausage and would not recommend it to anyone.

 

Because blood is so rich in iron — and because the body has difficulty excreting excess iron — any animal that consumes blood regularly runs a risk of iron overdose. While iron is necessary for all animals (and indeed most life), in high doses it can be toxic. This condition, called haemochromatosis, can cause a wide variety of diseases and problems, including liver damage, buildup of fluid in the lungs, dehydration, low blood pressure, and nervous disorders.

 

The bodies of animals that digest blood have adapted specialized digestive mechanisms.

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1739-safe-to-drink-blood.html

 

Black pudding, blood pudding or blood sausage is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. The dish exists in various cultures from Asia to Europe. Pig, cattle, sheep, duck and goat blood can be used depending on different countries.

 

In Europe, typical fillers include meat, fat, suet, bread, sweet potato,[citation needed] onion, chestnuts, barley, and oatmeal while in Spain and Asia, potato is often replaced by rice.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding

 

Animal product is a term used to describe any material derived from the body of a non-human animal. Examples are fat, flesh, blood, milk, eggs, and lesser known products such as isinglass and rennet.[1]

 

The term "animal by-product" is normally used of animal carcasses and parts of carcasses from slaughterhouses, animal shelters, zoos and veterinarians, and products of animal origin not intended for human consumption, including catering waste (all waste food from restaurants, catering facilities, central kitchens, slaughterhouses and household kitchens). These products go through a process known as "rendering" to be made into human and non-human foodstuffs, fats, and other material that can be sold to make commercial products such as cosmetics, paint, cleaners, polishes, glue, soap and ink. The sale of animal by-products allows the meat industry to compete economically with industries selling sources of vegetable protein.[2]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_product

[CaptainPanic]

I think the problem with drinking blood would be that it becomes solid all by itself when exposed to air. It's the same reason your blood turns into a crust when you're injured.

 

Maybe that's why most countries turn it into a sausage? Blood sausage is not hard to find. In the Netherlands, I think the majority of supermarkets (if not all of them) sell it. It's also part of a traditional English breakfast.

[Yarn]

I suppose storing blood in such a fashion as to prevent it from congealing would add to its cost, but given that we are able to store human blood in such a pristine form as to allow its functional reintegration into the circulatory system, in modern times the fact that blood normally congeals should offer no formidable barrier to it being drunken. However, preceding such technology, congealing would have provided a formidable barrier that would have required all blood to drunk "raw".

 

 

I guess iron-overdose is also something to consider.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Yarn