You may have heard the story of how Gatorade got its start. PepsiCo recounts the 1965 tale about a University of Florida assistant coach who sat down with university physicians and asked why his players were so affected by the heat.

Abnormalities in blood cell counts can be serious signs of illness and disease, side effects of drugs or complications from medical procedures such as cancer treatments. MayoClinic.com defines leucopenia, or low white blood cell count, as a decrease in leukocytes, or disease-fighting cells in the blood.

Many medical professionals dispute the theory of a link between food, blood type and health, but the idea of a blood-type diet was popularized in the 1996 book “Eat Right 4 Your Type."

White blood cells are produced by the bone marrow and have an important role in preventing infection. White blood cells and the bone marrow are very sensitive to toxins, as well as a number of prescription medications that can also kill white cells.

Ammonia is a toxic by-product that results when the body breaks down proteins. A healthy person's liver converts ammonia into urea, a nonpoisonous substance excreted in urine.

Your bloodstream is critical to your survival, because it's what carries oxygen and nutrient molecules to your body cells. Nutrient molecules that you absorb from the digestive tract can dissolve in the blood, and cells remove them from the blood as needed.

There are five kinds of white blood cells--lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils. Overall, these cells have the responsibility of protecting you against infections. They fight and destroy what they consider to be foreign invaders. In this fight, they have a “division of labor.

High blood sugar levels, or hyperglycemia, is a condition in which glucose concentrations in the blood are too high. This condition is commonly found in individuals who have diabetes and is caused when the body does not produce enough of or is resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin.

Thrombocytopenia, the medical term for a low blood platelet count, occurs when blood platelets die faster than they’re reproduced. According to the Mayo Clinic, a healthy count ranges between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets for every microliter of circulating blood. A low platelet count occurs for several reasons.

Brown rice syrup is an alternative to refined table sugar and artificial sweeteners and is often included as an ingredient for many processed foods. To make brown rice syrup, brown rice is fermented to break down the starch in the grains, then the liquid is removed and heated until it reaches a syrup-like consistency.

Two of the main components of human blood are red blood cells and white blood cells. While both types of blood cells are produced in similar ways, they have very different functions in the body. Without both red and white blood cells, bodily functions that are essential to good health would not be possible.

Constriction of the blood vessels is the body’s way to raise the blood pressure. By narrowing the passage in the blood vessels, blood flows more slowly to the organs and the extremities. Certain foods may contribute to this process.