Special blood allows Tibetans to live the high life

摘要

You have to be special to live 4000 metres up a mountain. And the people of Tibet are very special indeed. They have a unique blood chemistry that allows them to cope with the thin, oxygen-poor mountain air; an adaptation not discovered until now. It may suggest novel ways to treat hypoxia in people at lower elevations.rnTibetans' blood carries very little oxygen - so little that a sea-level doctor would prescribe supplemental oxygen. Yet, paradoxically, they manage to be just as active and use just as much oxygen per minute as people at sea level.