Blood tests showed that the low-zinc diet lowered the men's stores of the mineral, and diminished the activity of the carbonic anhydrase enzymes in their red blood cells.
Iron is required for the production of red blood cells (a process known as haematopoiesis), but it's also part of haemoglobin (that is the pigment of the red blood cells) binding to the oxygen and thus facilitating its transport from the lungs via the arteries to all cells throughout the body.ron is required for the production of red blood cells (a process known as haematopoiesis), but it's also part of haemoglobin (that is the pigment of the red blood cells) binding to the oxygen and thus facilitating its transport from the lungs via the arteries to all cells throughout the body.
The function of the red blood cells is to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body cells. A red protein called Haemoglobin, when the blood reaches the lungs, oxygen diffuses from the alveoli to the red blood cells and combines with haemoglobin forming an unstable compound called oxyhaemoglobin.