Short Interesting Facts About Us, the Human Body & More…
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Soft spongy bone marrow is on the inside of some of your bones, such as your thigh bones and your hip bones.

Bone marrow has special cells called stem cells, which make red blood cells and platelets.

Red blood cells bring oxygen to the tissues in the body, and platelets help the blood clot such as forming a scab to stop bleeding.

Normal Bone Marrow

Bone marrow should contain the proper number and types of:

• Blood-forming (hematopoietic) cells
• Connective tissues
• Fat cells

Bone Marrow Types

There are two types of bone marrow:

• Medulla ossium rubra
  Red marrow – consisting mainly of hematopoietic tissue. Red blood cells, platelets and most white blood cells arise in red marrow. Red marrow is found mainly in the flat bones, such as the hip bone, breast bone, cranium, ribs, vertebrae and shoulder blades, and in the cancellous (spongy) material at the epiphyseal ends of long bones such as the femur and humerus.
• Medulla ossium flava
  Yellow marrow – consisting mainly of fat cells. Yellow marrow is found in the medullary cavity, the hollow interior of the middle portion of long bones. In cases of severe blood loss, the body can convert yellow marrow back to red marrow to increase blood cell production.

Both types of bone marrow contain numerous blood vessels and capillaries. At birth, all bone marrow is red. With age, more and more of it is converted to the yellow type. Only around half of adult bone marrow is red.

Bone Marrow as Food

Vietnam
Beef bone marrow used as soup base for the dish, phở.

Hungary
Tibia is a main ingredient of beef soup – the bone is chopped into short pieces and the ends covered with salt to prevent marrow from leaking from the bone while cooking. When serving the soup, the marrow is usually spread on toast.

Philippines
Soup bulalo made primarily of beef stock and marrow bones, seasoned with vegetables and boiled meat.

Iranian Cuisine
Lamb shanks are usually broken before cooking to allow diners to suck out and eat the marrow when the dish is served.

Indonesia
Found especially in Minangkabau cuisine that also uses any kinds of offals as delicacies. In India, slow-cooked marrow is the core ingredient of the dish nalli nihari.

Native Alaskans
Some Native Alaskans eat the bone marrow of caribou and moose.

Pakistani Cuisine
Various stews thickened with bone marrow are considered a healthy delicacy.