Hi there,
Can anyone explain to me the role of carbohydrates in red blood cell production? In my textbook it lists dietary carbs as one of the building blocks necessary for RBC's, along with iron, B12, etc. But it doesn't explain that role and I can't seem to find any info in searches. Can people on a low-carb diet become anemic because they can't make enough RBC's?

Most dietitians, RD's and other 'experts' claim our bodies need carbohydrates for energy and proper function -- what they don't know, or say is the liver can make any needed sugars from dietary protein. That's why on LC you need more protein than the average Joe, but it's not a "high protein diet" as is so often claimed.

If so, the Greenland Inuits, the Obegiwa, and many other native American tribes that ate very little carbs, and only seasonally, probably would have died out long ago.

I've never had RBC's flagged on a blood test and I've been low carbing for 7 years or so.

Don't forget your body can make all the glucose it needs out of protein. Sometimes people get lazy in their thinking and assume glucose only comes from carbs but that ain't so.

Red blood cells have no mitochondria; as a result, they depend on non-oxidative fermentation of glucose for energy. I doubt that a low carb diet would cause anemia, unless there was some underlying pathology leading to extended hypoglycemia; in people on low carb diets who are normoglycemic, any cells that insist on using glucose for energy will still get it. Red blood cells don't use fat for energy; so there's no reason to think that they would be affected by palmitic-acid induced insulin resistance, or anything like that. As long as glucose levels are normal, these cells should be fine.

Um, did the traditional Inuit have any red blood cells? I'm guessing yeah.

The body can produce all the glucose it needs for red blood cells and the brain by converting amino acids.

Thanks everyone! My book says, "To produce healthy RBC's, the bone marrow must have the following...............................Essential amino acids and carbohydrates to complete the hemoglobin rings, cell membrane, and basic structure." I understand that we make glucose out of protein but I wasn't sure if they were referring to some sort of component in dietary carbohydrate that was needed to build the RBC, but maybe they really should have said glucose. However, I just read on Wikipedia "hemoglobin rings" about what they consist of and it said nothing about glucose, it was all protein, although they didn't say if glucose was needed to actually build them. They did say that glucose binds to the RBC and diabetics then have more of this binding, because of the presence of more glucose, and that is a test of BS control. Although I am curious as to what that glucose binding does, is it bad, good, does it serve a function? Maybe I should just quit reading so gosh darn much into my lessons.

They should have said glucose, not carbohydrates. Your textbook is sloppy. It all ends up as glucose. There is no requirement that a human must eat carbohydrates.

This binding is what is tested by the hemoglobin A1c test in diabetics I believe. This is an advanced glycation endproduct (AGE), which is a measure of how much the blood sugar is deteriorating the tissues of the body. It is as bad as it sounds and does not serve a function as far as I recollect. You want it to happen as little as possible, thus the desire for low and stable BS levels.

--Melissa