# Nutritious Nosebleed **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986 "2008-11-29T23:29:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fastidiots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@Fastidiots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fastidiots)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/1 "2008-11-29T23:29:02Z")
If while tilting ones head back during a nosebleed, the stomach receives some blood, does the body recognise that as a meal or nutritious? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/2 "2008-11-29T23:33:27Z")
It depends what you mean by “recognize.” Yes, blood has nutritional value, which is utilized like anything else entering the digestive system. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/3 "2008-11-30T00:32:23Z")
I was under the impression that humans have a hard time digesting large amounts of human blood. At least, I remember vomitting copious amounts of blood after each of my oral surgeries. Not fun when your jaw is wired shut. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/4 "2008-11-30T01:00:43Z")
I would assume that the amount of blood swallowed during an ordinary nosebleed is so small that it wouldn’t induce vomiting except for psychological reasons. The intestinal system treats everything that enters it in exactly the same way. It tries to break it down into the smallest components of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. If it succeeds, it tries to absorb them and use them as building blocks for the body. If it can’t break them down or absorb them then it eliminates them. The concept of nutrition is irrelevant to the process. It’s like asking whether the ground recognizes water from a hose as a source of erosion. It doesn’t care. The same processes will attempt to take place no matter the source. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/5 "2008-11-30T03:03:41Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I was under the impression that humans have a hard time digesting large amounts of human blood. At least, I remember vomitting copious amounts of blood after each of my oral surgeries. Not fun when your jaw is wired shut. There are foods that consist manly of blood. I can’t tell you how many people still eat that type of thing. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/6 "2008-11-30T03:30:38Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I was under the impression that humans have a hard time digesting large amounts of human blood. At least, I remember vomitting copious amounts of blood after each of my oral surgeries. Not fun when your jaw is wired shut. I experienced the same… good times. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/7 "2008-11-30T07:14:36Z")
I had always heard that human blood had too much iron to be digested in large amounts, hence the gratuitous vomitting. However, my Googling is not showing anything like that. Maybe it was an old wives’ tale to make me feel better about covering myself in black ick. Does anyone know if human blood has more iron than, say, cow’s blood? I do enjoy a good blood sausage every now and then. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/8 "2008-11-30T09:40:11Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > There are foods that consist manly of blood. I can’t tell you how many people still eat that type of thing. Those _crazy people_! [Wait](http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=12188)… ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/9 "2008-11-30T09:59:55Z")
> [@tvvat](#): > > If while tilting ones head back during a nosebleed, the stomach receives some blood, does the body recognise that as a meal or nutritious? Just remember that you’re not going to get more energy out of digesting the blood than your body put into making it in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/10 "2008-11-30T12:16:02Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > Just remember that you’re not going to get more energy out of digesting the blood than your body put into making it in the first place. Dang! Now I have to remove a whole chapter from my “Surviving in the wilderness”-book. Punching each other in the face seemed like the perfect way to work on frustrations and supplement meager access to proteins. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/11 "2008-11-30T14:03:09Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > Just remember that you’re not going to get more energy out of digesting the blood than your body put into making it in the first place. Wasn’t there a thread a while back where the OP thought (quite mistakenly, obviously) that a good solution to starvation on a desert island would be to amputate one of your own limbs, then eat it? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutritious-nosebleed/474986/12 "2008-11-30T14:04:18Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > There are foods that consist manly of blood. I can’t tell you how many people still eat that type of thing. Whenever I get the chance…