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Published by The Vampire Network on the 29th of April 2017Bridging the Gap Part II:
Physiological Benefits of Blood Consumption in Vampires
Ongoing scientific research supports the idea that both the physical and the metaphysical lens through which the necessity of blood drinking and its effects are viewed are valid. In a two-part series, these articles will outline the physiological and metaphysical beneficial effects of blood drinking.
PART 2: Physiological benefits of blood consumption in vampires
Symptoms of blood starvation and their physiological underpinnings
In Blood Vampires, symptoms of blood deprivation (here also referred to as “blood starvation”) mimic those associated with anemia and commonly include: pale skin, feeling cold and being cold to touch (especially extremities), fatigue, lethargy, shortness of breath, muscle pain, chest pain, irregular heartbeat, exercise intolerance, dizziness/lightheadedness, nausea, headache, “brain fog” and altered mental state (especially irritability, anxiety, depression).
These are physical manifestations of hypoxia (insufficient oxygen supply) and hypoglycemia (insufficient glucose supply) as they affect the major organs of the body. While all other organs of the body can use multiple sources of fuel, the brain can only utilize glucose. Hypoglycemia and hypoxia in the brain manifests as “brain fog”, irritability, anxiety, nausea, dizziness/lightheadedness, and headache. During prolonged periods of hypoxia and hypoglycemia, irritability and anxiety gradually transition to depression and lethargy and eventually unconsciousness it is possible that the brain does adapt to periods of transient hypoxia and with time becomes more tolerant of them; however, hypoxia and hypoglycemia must at some point be resolved to prevent permanent damage or death.
Hypoxia in the heart is responsible for irregular heart beat and chest pain. Hearts of Blood Vampires can eventually adapt to chronic hypoxia by reduction in heart rate during periods of starvation, which reduces oxygen demand. However, like the brain, these adaptations can only compensate for lack of oxygen for a finite period of time, after which the individual must consume blood.
Muscle pain is a consequence of build-up of lactic acid in the muscle. When oxygen is limited, muscle switches to anaerobic (oxygen-independent) metabolism in which lactate (lactic acid) is produced. Pain associated with lactic acid build-up is a safety mechanism which normally prevents exercising muscle from further exertion, which would result in muscle damage. Production of lactic acid also slows down aerobic (oxygen-dependent) metabolic pathways, thereby preventing permanent damage to the muscle, in part by reactive oxygen species which are produced by aerobic metabolism in hypoxic conditions.
Shortness of breath results from an attempt by the lungs to compensate for rising CO2 concentration in the blood; CO2 is a waste product of cellular metabolism.
Higher susceptibility to infectious disease is another salient feature of blood starvation. It is also a known complication of untreated anemia. One mechanism is likely related to the requirement for iron for development and function of some aspects of the immune system. B/T-cell- and neutrophil-mediated immunity is impaired in iron-deficient humans, while the humoral/innate immune response is less affected. Bactericidal activity is decreased in most studies on iron-deficient human subjects. Likewise, natural killer cell activity is decreased (1, 2). Cytotoxic cells (natural killer cells and neutrophils) also require oxygen to make reactive oxygen species (ROS) which they use to kill pathogens. 70% of human pathogens are normally eliminated by these “first responders” of the immune system. As oxygen levels in the blood fall, so does their ability to produce ROS. Thus, in combination hypoxia and iron deficiency or altered distribution of iron (free vs. ferritin- or hemoglobin-bound), two major features or blood depravation, result in significant impairment of the immune system.
Composition of blood
Blood is composed of the cellular component and the non-cellular component called plasma (serum is plasma without clotting factors).
Blood cells include red blood cells (RBCs) or erythrocytes, white blood cells (WBCs) or leukocytes and platelets or thrombocytes.
Plasma is comprised of mostly water (90%), dissolved gasses (oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2)), cellular waste, plasma proteins (albumin, immunoglobulins (antibodies) and clotting factors), hormones, growth factors, cytokines, neurotransmitters, electrolytes (sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+) and chloride (Cl-)), and micronutrients (glucose, lipids, free amino acids, minerals (iron (Fe2/3+), magnesium (Mg2+), zinc (Zn2+), etc.) and vitamins).
How blood components affect physical symptoms of starvation
Blood, consumed either raw or cooked, is and has always been a staple source of nutrition in many cultures across the world (ex. Scandinavia, Sub-Saharan Africa, among Inuit and Slavic people). A tradition among Ethiopian people, in which men consume nothing but large quantities of cow blood and milk for six months at a time in order to gain massive amounts of weight (3), proves that not only are large amounts of blood consumed daily for long periods of time not toxic (excluding unrelating preconditions), but that blood is also a significant source of calories, contrary to popularly held belief, even among some vampires, that blood contains only prana or psychic energy and has no real physical nutritional value.
One important source of calories in blood is glucose. Other sources include lipids (primarily triglycerides) and protein (primarily albumin). Glucose is transported across enterocytes (cells that line the intestinal tract) from the gastrointestinal tract directly into the circulation, into mesenteric arteries which are in close proximity to the intestines, through “active transport” via a set of transport proteins (4).
Furthermore, blood contains RBCs and inside them, bound up in hemoglobin, molecular oxygen. Upon entering the GI tract, RBCs are lysed, leaving hemoglobin-oxygen complexes, which are taken up by enterocytes. Inside enterocytes, these complexes are disassembled leaving free O2 and iron (each heme molecule is structured around a single central iron atom). O2 freely diffuses across the enterocyte membrane directly into the blood stream. Unlike O2, iron transport across enterocytes is highly regulated, so that iron transported out of these cells is immediately bound to transferrin and shuttled directly to RBC precursors (5). This limits the amount of free iron in the circulation. The small amount of free and ferritin-bound iron consumed in blood (see details below) is also transported across the enterocytes in a similarly regulated manner.
Thus, oral intake of blood results in oxygen, glucose and iron delivery to the circulation of the Blood Vampire. This translates into obvious beneficial physiological effects. Symptoms of hypoxia and hypoglycemia (fatigue, lethargy, shortness of breath, muscle pain, chest pain, irregular heartbeat, exercise intolerance, dizziness/lightheadedness, nausea, headache and “brain fog”, as discussed above) are resolved. Blood Vampires change visibly in appearance losing their characteristic pallor. Measurable and significant increase in core body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure have been measured in Blood Vampires following blood ingestion. Also, all Blood Vampires report an increase in energy levels and mental capacity (including improved memory and comprehension). Some vampires report an increase in exercise capacity, speed and strength above that seen in non-vampires.
Iron obtained from the blood contributes to relieving symptoms of anemia (hypoxia) in those vampires who are iron-deficient, because it participates in formation of heme molecules, and thus, in biogenesis of mature RBCs. Iron is also critical for normal function of the immune system, which accounts for improved resistance to infectious disease in Blood Vampires. Also, the hormone cortisol tends to be elevated during starvation; its levels decrease upon blood consumption. Cortisol is the body’s major stress hormone, i.e. it is released from the adrenal gland when the body is under stress. High cortisol levels, in turn, have been associated with suppression of the immune system (6). In fact, many Blood Vampires, with optimal levels of blood consumption, are highly resistant to infectious disease and able to fight off invading pathogens in record time (within 12-24 hours), in stark contrast to periods of starvation which are characterized by recurrent infections and inability to resolve them without the help of antibiotics.
Our knowledge of how other blood components benefit blood vampire physiology is incomplete. However, we do know that levels of several key components change with blood consumption vs. blood starvation, and we do understand the functional importance of some of these additional factors.
Vitamin D, for example, is necessary for absorption of calcium in the GI tract and maintains adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralization of bone. However, the majority of usable vitamin D in humans comes from endogenous biosynthesis in the skin upon exposure to ultraviolet rays from sunlight, while a small amount is derived from food. Most Blood Vampires are photosensitive, most to a degree which results in severe vitamin D deficiency. GI disease (irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Celiac and Chron’s disease) prevent intestinal absorption of vitamin D. In addition, vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin; thus, a diet too low in fat also contributes to vitamin D deficiency. Many Blood Vampires are deficient in enzymes needed to digest dietary fat (lipases). Low vitamin D levels in adulthood do not manifest in bone loss (osteoporosis) until later in life; however, they do result in an array of symptoms including suppression of the immune system, muscle pain, fatigue, impaired (slow) wound healing, cognitive impairment (“brain fog”) and depression (7,8). These are all symptoms experienced by Blood Vampires, which are corrected upon ingestion of blood, concomitant with an increase in vitamin D levels.
Anxiety, irritability, muscle weakness and cramping, and irregular heart beat are among the classic symptoms of low magnesium levels. Magnesium deficiency is another common trait among vampires, and its symptoms are corrected upon ingestion of blood, which increases magnesium levels. Causes of low magnesium levels in Blood Vampires during blood starvation are not completely clear, but may involve high cortisol levels. Steroid hormones, including cortisol increase magnesium excretion via the kidneys (9).
Depression, fatigue, dysautonomia (most commonly orthostatic hypotension), chronically low blood pressure and heart rate and migraine are nearly universal symptoms of blood starvation, which are, likewise universally, strikingly improved by ingestion of blood. An identical set of symptoms is also characteristic of low serotonin and low norepinephrine levels. Serotonin and norepinephrine are neurotransmitters which have receptors in the central nervous system (CNS) and in the periphery and are therefore capable of regulating multiple bodily systems in a coordinated manner. Both are potent vasoconstrictors, therefore low levels result in vasodilation and decreased blood pressure (both chronically and with episodes of orthostatic hypotension), as well as migraines (vasodilation is thought to be an initiating step in migraine development). Norepinephrine increases heart rate when blood pressure falls; thus, its low levels are responsible for persistently low heart rate in the presence of low blood pressure. Precise mechanisms(s) by which serotonin and norepinephrine regulate depression are not known; however, it has been proven that increasing their concentrations using reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs and SNRIs) improves symptoms of depression. Low serotonin levels in Blood vampires are likely a consequence of destruction or damage to the enterochromaffin cells, which line the GI tract and produce 90% of endogenous serotonin (only 10% is produced in the brain).
Most Blood Vampires have significant problems digesting solid food, especially complexed fats and protein. In a number of individuals this has been found to be a consequence of deficiency in pancreatic lipases (enzymes which convert complex fats into simpler tri- and mono-glycerides) and increased stomach and intestinal pH (pH>4) due to insufficient production of gastric acid secondary to either destruction of parietal cells or their sub-optimal function. Thus, ingested blood also provides these critical nutrients in form of triglycerides (fat) and albumin (protein).
Vitamin B12 is a major co-factor required for biogenesis of RBCs. Many blood vampires are chronically deficient in B-complex vitamins or vitamin B12 specifically, either because they cannot intake sufficient quantities in their diet due to GI difficulties and/or because they have auto-antibodies against intrinsic factor, a protein which transports vitamin B12 across enterocytes, or the cells which make it, the parietal cells of the stomach. This condition is termed pernicious anemia, and it affects 14% of blood vampires (vs. 0.1% of non-vampires). Vitamin B12 can today be supplemented via intramuscular injection; oral vitamin B12 supplementation is ineffective in individuals with pernicious anemia. However, before 1950s, treatment for pernicious anemia included eating liver or drinking liver “juice”, when scientists came to understand that vitamin B12 was stored in the liver in 1925, and before that drinking blood (10).
Furthermore, individuals with pernicious anemia also have pale skin (expected due to anemia), significant GI difficulties which resemble IBS due to severe gastritis and inability to produce gastric acid (parietal cells also make gastric acid), as well as neurological symptoms (headache, vertigo, numbness, depression) and chronic fatigue. Deficiency in vitamin B5 results in extreme sun sensitivity. Vitamin B3 deficiency likewise results in IBS-like symptoms, weakness and lethargy. It has become widely accepted that porphyria is the disease responsible for creation of the myth of the vampire. However, although some symptoms of porphyria mimic those experienced by vampires, symptoms of porphyria are not relieved by ingestion of blood. To the contrary, porphyria was (and in some cases still is) treated by blood-letting to reduce the buildup of porphyrins, which cause it. It may be more likely that some historical vampires were individuals with pernicious anemia.
Thus the currently prevailing dogma, that blood has no nutritional value or physiological benefit, is clearly false.
It is also significant to note that many of the aforementioned physiological effects bare relevance to the classical description of the mythical vampire, who has pale skin cold to the touch, and is weak to the point of immobility when deprived of blood, with no detectable heartbeat. Just like modern day Blood Vampires, classical vampires of legend and literature became reanimated upon ingestion of blood, their skin becoming warm and human-like in complexion. Very low heart rates accompanied by very low blood pressure and very low respiratory rate (1 breath per minute or less) have been recorded in some modern day vampires during periods of prolonged starvation. Opiate pain killers, such as might be used to alleviate moderate and severe pain which accompany blood depravation in almost all Blood Vampires (ex. migraines), are known to further depresses the respiratory rate and heart rate (11, 12). It is not inconceivable that the myth of the vampire, which is overwhelmingly rejected by the modern day vampires in large part because it includes the idea of reanimated corpses, is not a biological impossibility, but instead describes vampires of the past who were buried alive during periods of starvation and/or while in morphine-induced deep sleep without the benefits of modern medicine and its more precise methods of separating life and death.
Likewise, some Blood Vampires report an increase in exercise capacity, speed and strength above that seen in non-vampires, which is echoed by vampire “fiction” but is ridiculed by the modern day vampire community as delusional. However, alterations in isoforms of skeletal and cardiac muscle contractile proteins and their regulators, and more efficient energy (ATP) usage have been observed in today’s vampires. Moreover, under hypoxic conditions, muscle in non-vampires undergoes similar changes. It would be expected that when oxygen levels were increased in muscle tissue which had adapted in such a way, strength and velocity of contraction might increase above baseline (“normal”) levels, thus explaining these observations.
Also, “desiccated”, skin-and-bone appearance of mythical vampires entombed for long periods of time, who assume normal fleshy appearance upon ingestion of blood has long been rejected as fictional nonsense. However, the striking weight gain achieved by Ethiopians on the blood diet (3) makes one wonder whether this judgement is likewise premature. Variation in weight of 5-10 lbs between starvation and abundant blood consumption has been observed among modern day Blood Vampires for whom blood is the primary source of nutrition.
Thus, perhaps we should be less hasty in discounting myths and legends before we fully understand our past and our present.
The myth of iron toxicity
Perhaps the most enduring myth surrounding blood drinking is that which proclaims that drinking blood will make the individual sick and lead to iron toxicity. This is entirely false.
Despite massive iron supplementation among non-vampires, most of it unnecessary in conjunction with more than sufficient iron consumption from dietary sources, iron toxicity in healthy individuals is exceedingly rare. Only individuals with inherited defects in iron-handling machinery (hemochromatosis) are prone to iron-overload from dietary sources. Non-vampires with pernicious anemia, for example, frequently develop iron-deficiency because they cannot digest food with high iron content (red meat) (13,14,15).
Normal serum iron (free and ferritin-bound iron) level ranges from 60 to 170 μg/dL for men and 30 - 126 μg/dL for women (13). 100 mL of human blood contains a total of 40-50 mg of iron, most of it sequestered in hemoglobin (only 1 mg per 100 mL as free iron) (14).
The average recommended daily allowance of iron for men is 8 mg and for women 18 mg in the U.S., but increases to 27 mg for pregnant women, and the upper safety limit is considered to be 45 mg/day (15). Thus, if a vampire consumes 100 mL of blood daily, his/her iron intake will still be within the safe daily allowance. These values assume that absorption of iron in the GI tract, its dissociation from hemoglobin and transport through the enterocytes are 100% efficient in Blood Vampires, which is not so. Most Blood Vampires have GI disorders which diminish their capacity to absorb iron, including pernicious anemia, IBS, Celiac and Chron’s disease. Over 1/3 of non-vampires with inflammatory bowel disease (includes IBS, Celiac and Chron’s disease) have recurrent iron-deficiency anemia (16,17), and iron deficiency is common in non-vampires with pernicious anemia because of elevated pH in the GI tract which prevents iron absorption and digestion of foods rich in iron (ex. red meat) (18, 19, 20, 21). Blood Vampires with pernicious anemia avoid iron deficiency because they obtain sufficient iron from blood. To our knowledge, no cases of iron toxicity or increased serum iron levels have been observed even in vampires who consume over 100 mL of human blood per day.
Conclusion
In conclusion, oral consumption of blood is not only non-toxic, but provides measurable and consistent physiological and metaphysical benefits for Blood Vampires. Moreover, many of these benefits, when further analyzed, bridge the gap between the modern day “living” vampires and their historical counterparts of myth and legend.
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