Understanding Red Blood Cells and Their Functions

8. Creation of Red Blood Cells

Erythropoiesis, the process by which the body produces new red blood cells, takes around seven days. In embryos, this process occurs in the liver. After birth, responsibility transfers to the red bone marrow of large bones. The body produces more than two million red blood cells per second in the bone marrow. Using glucose, lipids, amino acids, iron, copper, zinc, and B vitamins, the bone marrow creates a blood stem cell which may become a red blood cell. Reticulocytes are developing red blood cells that begin to flow from the bone marrow into the blood. Around one percent of circulating red blood cells are reticulocytes.