Thursday, July 21, 2011

How much blood does a person's body contain?

it depends on the size of the body - bigger people have more blood.  So the only answer can be proportionate - i.e. X% of the human body is blood. I found a source which says about 7%.


We know that humans are about 70% water, but that fluid is not just blood - every cell is a little liquid pouch.  The amount of fluid in the vascular system is probably around what the prior responders state.


But, for example, a pregnant woman's blood volume increases by a third toward the end of the pregnancy - that's not counting the blood that the fetus itself made.


So the answer is a confident "it depends", but AFAIK, loss of more than three pints is life threatening.

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