In this article, I introduce my readers to the Eat Right for Your Type blood type diet popularized by Peter J. D’Adamo. Furthermore, I summarize my own personal experiences with this diet and give my own personal critique of it. A very interesting read!
Introduction: Ripped Off by a Continuing Education Course?
Every year, I have to take Continuing Education Courses, or CEUs, to renew my acupuncture license. And one year, I seized on the opportunity to take a course on Nutrition; since Nutrition was a subject I had not studied that much when I went to acupuncture school back in the mid-80s, which could be called the initial “wild west” phase of acupuncture licensing, I was eager to get some solid nutritional education under my belt. To my great dismay, what this so-called nutrition course wound up offering was mainly an introduction to the Blood Type Diet. Since I had wanted to study real nutrition to supplement deficiencies in my original training, I wound up feeling greatly cheated or short-changed by the course.
What’s the Blood Type Diet? It is a diet popularized or put forth by a book entitled, Eat Right for Your Type written by Peter J. D’Adamo, this Italian dude who was an ND, or Naturopathic Doctor. The basic premise of his diet seemed reasonable enough: Since the basic purpose or objective of eating is to eat foods that build good, healthy blood, or the Sanguine Humor as it is known in Greek Medicine, this guy was saying that the different blood types – A, AB, B and O – needed differing mixes of foods and nutrients to build their blood in an optimal manner, each according to his or her blood type.
But beyond this basic premise, D’Adamo claimed that the blood type diets presented in his book were all based on the latest, state of the art research that revolved around something he called Lectins, which, as far as I could figure out, were specialized protein molecules involved with the coagulation of other proteins. If the Lectins in the food you were eating didn’t jibe with your blood type, you would wind up with less than optimal nutrition, and possibly even coagulated proteins in your blood to boot. As I said, that’s the best I could figure out about this whole Lectins thing; you can read the book for yourself to see if you can get more out of the whole Lectins bit than I did.
Anyway, Lectins or no Lectins, this book, or dietary manual, has quite a large and impressive following in the natural healing community. There are acupuncturists, herbalists and Naturopathic Doctors who absolutely swear by it and take it as their dietary Bible. Beyond the book’s esoteric theorizing about Lectins, the book is dominated by endless lists of what foods – and herbs – to take or eat, as well as which foods and herbs not to take or eat, individualized for each and every blood type. And the natural healers and holistic health professionals who swear by this book have glowing testimonials about how this blood type diet would straighten out and heal the dietary dilemmas and conundrums of their patients when nothing else would. It could be argued that there is a bit of a disconnect between the esoteric theorizing about Lectins and all that stuff in the beginning of the book and all the lists of dietary do’s and don’ts that come in the second or practical section of the book, but it could also be argued that if the theoretical rationale for all these do’s and dont’s lists were all spelled out, the book would be ten times longer, bigger and heavier than it is now. In other words, just follow my lists and eat right for your blood type, and you will reap the great health and healing results promised by the author.
In Japan there’s a popular system of personality typology based on blood types, which the Japanese call Ketsu (blood) Eki (fluid) Gata (type). You can think of it as a kind of pop astrology using blood types instead of zodiac signs.
I Put the Blood Type Diet to the Test
My own personal blood type is B Positive, which basically falls under type B in D’Adamo’s book. I take my blood type as a kind of moral lesson or exhortation to me – Be Positive! – since I can be quite the pessimist otherwise. There are definite factors in my natal astrology chart that indicate my pessimistic tendencies, but it seems like my personal blood type is coming at things from yet a different angle.
And so, I flip to Type B in D’Adamo’s book to see what the lists say about me. Hhhmmm… It says that duck and turkey are good for me, but chicken is on my “don’t eat” list. I wonder why – gee, I never experienced any real problems eating chicken, although I might say that turkey’s tastier and a bit more satisfying than chicken, and I really like duck meat. If I’m hungry and can’t find any duck or turkey available, should I eat the chicken? I don’t experience any real problems in doing so.
And when it comes to nuts, D’Adamo says that Almonds are really good for me. But funny thing, last time I took a blood serum antibody screening test for various foods, I did register positive for an adverse reaction to Almonds. If I eat too many Almonds, my guts feel a little funny, yet the lists for my type say that it’s the best kind of nut for me to eat. So who do I trust – the blood type book or my blood serum antibody screening test for hidden food allergies?
Even though I personally have found these problems with the blood type diet and my lists of “do” and “don’t” foods, you might have better luck with it. At any rate it’s worth a try, and that’s the only way to find out if the blood type diet really works for you.
Back in the Dayz – And the Great Red Clover Controversy
My best friend John used to have a health food store and vegan cafe in southern California that was a real haven for weirdos and oddballs of all types. And when I visited that store, I would often get dragged into heated arguments with this guy named Peter – not the one they called The Count, but the other Peter, the one with short frizzy platinum blonde hair and an attitude that’s rather rowdy. And one of the things we would argue about was what I call the Great Red Clover Controversy. You see, there was a copy of the blood type diet book at John’s vegan cafe, and it often served as a conversation piece for those visiting his health food store. What is the Great Red Clover Controversy? You might ask. Well – while thumbing through the pages of D’Adamo’s book, I noticed that there were two herbs – and only these particular two herbs – that were on every blood type’s “do not take” list – and those two herbs were Rhubarb root and Red Clover. Rhubarb root, especially in larger doses, is a vigorous laxative – purgative, so it might not be for everybody; but then, there are plenty of people who could use a good cleaning out of their guts from time to time. And heck – Da Huang, or Rhubarb root, is Chinese herbal medicine’s most commonly used laxative / purgative herb. Millions of Chinese, using that herb for hundreds, even thousands, of years, can’t be wrong! But the greatest mystery of all was why on God’s green earth Red Clover was on every blood type’s “do not take” list. Good Lord – it would be hard to think of a milder, gentler or more innocuous herb than Red Clover! In my many years’ experience as an herbalist, I had not heard of anyone ever having an adverse reaction to Red Clover. It was things like these that I noticed in D’Adamo’s book that really made me wonder if he had all his marbles in place when he drew together all those lists. I don’t know if anyone besides me has noticed this peculiar anomaly in the blood type diet book, but check it out – and then ask yourself the big question: WHY?
Getting Back to Basics: There’s Something to Blood Types and Diet
The basic premise or connection between blood types and diet is genetic and ancestral: Your own personal blood type shows who your ancestors were, and their own personal dietary and eating habits – and hence the basic nature and function of their digestive tracts and how they nourished or fed the organism at large. In a nutshell, here are the basic origin stories behind each one of the four blood types:
Type O – This is generally held to be the oldest blood type, descended from primitive hunter – gatherers who eked out a subsistence from what was available to them in the wild before the advent of agriculture and settled, civilized societies. Type Os are basically the confirmed carnivores who really love meat, and lots of it. Although those who follow meat-centered diets like the Paleo Diet place a great emphasis on the hunter side of the equation, often to the exclusion of almost everything else, they often neglect the gatherer side of their dietary heritage; after all, these primitive hunter – gatherer types did gather various and sundry nuts, berries and roots to round out their diet, and these shouldn’t be neglected. Above all, Type Os are most likely to have problems with grains and gluten, and are not very well suited to vegetarianism.
Type A – This is generally held to be the most vegetarian-friendly blood type. The basic origin story for this blood type is that it evolved after people left the primitive hunter-gatherer state and started settling down in civilized cities that depended on large scale agriculture and the cultivation of grains for their sustenance. So type As thrive on whole grains, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables; their best protein sources are plant based: beans and pulses, nuts and seeds, and so on.
Type B – This is the quintessential omnivore who is best suited to eating most everything, and a wide spectrum of foods, both veggie and non-veggie. Type Bs also do particularly well with dairy products. These types tend to suffer most when the diet is too unbalanced and restricted, and not well-rounded enough.
Type AB – This is a mixed or hybrid blood type combining the characteristics of type A and type B. They are more veggie-leaning than type B, but more omnivorous than type A.
What you’re probably wondering by now is this: Let’s see – four blood types, and Four Temperaments in Greek Medicine. Is there any connection or correlation between the two? Personally, I don’t think that there is, although others who have studied both Greek Medicine and blood types have worked out some kind of correspondence system of their own. I invite you to investigate the matter further, and come to your own conclusions.
I believe that these broad differentiations are the main value of studying the connection between blood types and diet. I also believe that Mr. D’Adamo has taken things a bit too far with his hairsplitting distinctions and nitpicking lists – but this is mainly my own personal conclusion.
The basic truth and validity of the blood type – diet connection has been proven or borne out in my own family, I feel. My mother was from an old Polish Catholic family and was a real meat and potatoes gal who felt that a meal couldn’t really be complete without meat. Not surprisingly, her blood type was Type O. My sister inherited her Type O blood from my mother, and is also quite the carnivore herself, and also down on grains, gluten and high carbohydrate foods. And both my mother and my sister followed the low carbohydrate, high meat and protein Atkins Diet to lose weight. More recently, my sister has been quite a fan of the Paleo Diet, which calls for a return to primitive hunter – gatherer dietary habits. I myself have Type B blood, which I presume I inherited from my father. And I must admit that I’m an omnivore at heart, since repeated efforts to eat completely vegetarian have always failed me. I felt real good in the first couple of weeks as my body detoxified, but beyond this initial honeymoon period, my body started to feel too weak and flimsy due to a total lack of meat. My herbal medicine teacher told me that I need meat, even a little red meat, but taken in small doses, more like a medicine than a food. I definitely feel that it’s easy for me to overdose on meat.
So What About Blood Types and Diet? Mainstream Medicine Weighs In
When I did a quick Google search on blood types and diet, the AI summary of the results said that recent studies failed to show any correlation between the two. Furthermore, the summary said that adhering to blood type diets exposed people to the risk of developing nutritional deficiencies or imbalances, since whole food groups would often be avoided.
Is There Any Correlation Between Blood Types and Predispositions Towards Certain Health Disorders?
When it came to this question, the mainstream medical community weighed in on the positive side of the equation – that yes, there were definite correlations that could be drawn. The main fault line or distinction here seems to be between those with Type O blood on the one hand and those with non-O blood types on the other. There’s good news for those with Type O blood when it comes to risk for developing cardiovascular disease, says the respected health website, Web MD. Experts aren’t quite sure why, but it seems to be because they are at lower risk for developing high cholesterol, and that there are lower levels of certain risky clotting factors in their blood. If you’re coming at things from a blood type diet perspective, perhaps this lower risk for developing heart and cardiovascular disease comes from an evolutionary adaptation to higher levels of meat eating.
When it comes to the non-O blood types, the basic predispositions are as follows, according to Web MD:
Types A, AB and B are more at risk for developing stomach cancer than Type O, because their blood favors the overgrowth of Heliobacter pylori, which promotes stomach and gut inflammation and ulcers, which can easily morph into cancer. This tendency for Types A, AB and B to favor the overgrowth of H. Pylori in their gut also increases the risk for developing pancreatic cancer. Those with Type A blood tend to produce higher levels of Cortisol, a major stress hormone, so they may find stressful situations harder to deal with. Type O seems to have a greater resistance to malaria because the parasite responsible for this disease has a harder time attaching itself to Type O blood cells. Although Types A, AB and B are more associated with the overgrowth of H. Pylori bacteria, which is commonly associated with stomach ulcers, Web MD says that Type Os are more at risk for developing peptic ulcer. Types A, AB and B are more at risk for developing deep vein thrombosis, or dangrous blood embolisms in the deep veins than are Type Os; this probably goes along with Type O’s greater resistance to developing cardiovascular disease. There are a few other interesting blood type predispositions that this Web MD article covers, but these seem to be the main ones.