Blood groups and diet

[Luxion]

Have you heard of those theories about blood groups being involved in how people process various foods? The theory in brief is that blood grup A carriers should avoid meat and eat vegan food, group B carriers right the opposite, and so on.
I wonder where it came from as blood groups are quite evenly distributed, and I havent heard of correlation between having a given group and being descendant of let's say hunter- gatherers or farmers.
Where would they take it from and would it have any justification in genetics- proper one?
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[AJL]

Ah yes, there's a naturopath named D'Adamo who is the main proponent of this.

While it's true that a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works in diet and exercise, the thought that a few small genes could influence your overall ideal food balance is pretty laughable. There is a succinct review of this fad diet here:

http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/NegativeBR/d'adamo.html

[Hanna]

There may be some truth to this judging by personal experience. My blood group is A+ and I tried various diets and realized that my body tolerates and responds best to a vegetarian diet.

[AJL]

If it works for you great. It might happen to be right in your case: but I suspect this has more to do with the fact that your ancestors are all from a fairly small area and you inherited significant genes from people in those areas, where farming was developed, and without ready access to wild meat sources and seafood.

Though being type B, I am willing to bet I have more Type A and O ancestors than I do Type B and there's no guarantee whom I would inherit genes from. Immune-wise, we inherit by chance everything from some random mix of all our ancestors, and I have a lot of different kinds of ancestors. My HLA factors suggest I am a Swedish Sami or an Aleut Islander. Though neither, through some distant pathways I inherited "Beringian" propensities in HLA factors (and indeed I suspect these might be a better guide to ideal diet than blood type, because it is known that some HLA types link to celiac, diabetes, certain skin diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis, for example). As it happens, a Beringian diet would line up fairly well with D'Adamo's Type B diet, but let's not forget I have near relatives who are Type O and who might also do well on a Type B diet.

Anyway, here's another nail in the coffin:

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/98/1/99

I suspect the key to his success is that he makes fairly sensible general recommendations for every type. For example, he says:

"As they age, Type Bs have a tendency to suffer memory loss and have decreased mental acuity. Stay sharp by doing tasks that require concentration, such as crossword puzzles or learn a new skill or language."

This was true of my grandmother: but she was Type O. That's also how astrology works, you make gnomic statements which are generally true. Unless, of course, you're The Onion (http://www.theonion.com/horoscope/your-horoscopes-week-october-4-2016-54084)!

[Silesian]

There may be some truth to this judging by personal experience. My blood group is A+ and I tried various diets and realized that my body tolerates and responds best to a vegetarian diet.

Blood group A is associated with high frequencies in Europe, especially in Scandinavia and Central Europe.....

I would venture a wager you can digest Rye; have no allergies to Rye bread.

Rye is one of a number of species that grow wild in central and eastern Turkey and in adjacent areas. Domesticated rye occurs in small quantities at a number of Neolithic sites in (Asia Minor) Turkey, such as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Can Hasan III near Çatalhöyük,[1]
:)

Also of interest for life saving emergency; when traveling in foreign lands. Might want to review.
VIEW ABO BLOOD TYPE INFORMATION
http://www.bloodbook.com/world-abo.html

[AnnieD]

While admittedly skeptical of a strong blood type- to diet- correlation, I stumbled across a WebMD profile on Dr. Adamo's theory under the site's "Diet & Weight Management" forum. As this site seems to be a fairly mainstream source for medical science, I suppose that an outright dismissal of the theory as charlatanism may be unfair. In fact, reading the summary of my blood type O dietary preferences got me wondering whether "Celtic" (British) peoples might be more highly afflicted with Celiac disease:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/blood-type-diet

"Type O blood: A high-protein (http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/good-protein-sources) diet heavy on lean meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables, and light on grains, beans, and dairy. D'Adamo also recommends various supplements (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/default.htm) to help with tummy troubles and other issues he says people with type O tend to have."

OTOH, N. Europeans generally have higher lactose persistence. Sigh ... back to square one. :noidea:

[AJL]

While admittedly skeptical of a strong blood type- to diet- correlation, I stumbled across a WebMD profile on Dr. Adamo's theory under the site's "Diet & Weight Management" forum. As this site seems to be a fairly mainstream source for medical science, I suppose that an outright dismissal of the theory as charlatanism may be unfair. In fact, reading the summary of my blood type O dietary preferences got me wondering whether "Celtic" (British) peoples might be more highly afflicted with Celiac disease:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/blood-type-diet

"Type O blood: A high-protein (http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/good-protein-sources) diet heavy on lean meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables, and light on grains, beans, and dairy. D'Adamo also recommends various supplements (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/default.htm) to help with tummy troubles and other issues he says people with type O tend to have."

OTOH, N. Europeans generally have higher lactose persistence. Sigh ... back to square one. :noidea:

Well exactly, his diet speaks in generalities. While most Os are lactose-intolerant, most north Europeans are O, and most of them are lactose-tolerant while a higher proportion of them have celiac than any other region. "Where you come from" genetically is probably a much better guide, in general, than a flimsy thing like ABO type.

[AnnieD]

Well exactly, his diet speaks in generalities. While most Os are lactose-intolerant, most north Europeans are O, and most of them are lactose-tolerant while a higher proportion of them have celiac than any other region. "Where you come from" genetically is probably a much better guide, in general, than a flimsy thing like ABO type.

Yes, and there appear to be many experts ready to de-bunk a diet based on this "simplistic" theory, e.g. Blood Group O = higher Hunter Gatherer = higher meat / lower grains diet:
_________________________________
http://www.diet.com/g/blood-type-diet General acceptance "While many followers of the Blood Type diet report improved health and weight loss, the Blood Type diet is not widely accepted. Dr. D’Adamo cites many anthropological and microbiological studies to support his theories. However, critics argue there is virtually no data to support his diet plan. They charge that he has no well designed, well control studies to validate his claims that blood type is critical to the impact of diet. Noting that he has not conducted simple before and after blood studies to demonstrate his claim that lectin protein in foods cause blood cells to agglutinate or stick together.


Furthermore, they argue, if agglutination were as wide spread and common as Dr. D’Adamo claims, thousands of people would die each year from organ failure caused by this process and that pathologists would easily see evidence of this. Yet, no such evidence is presented or found in a review of the literature.


Additionally, critics argue that reducing people to a set of criteria based solely on blood type is tantamount to biological astrology. Characterizing all blood type O individuals as hunter-gatherers who need meat and blood type A individuals as more passive agrarians who will benefit most from a nearly vegetarian diet, they argue is far too simplistic for beings as genetically diverse and complex as humans."
________________________________
Hence, I'm not giving up grains or dairy any time soon ... :boxing:

[FredBats]

I grew up in Japan so am more used to blood types regarding personality which, ironically, is very accurate for myself and a number of relatives.

According to my blood type O I am supposed to be highly capable of digesting meat. I definitely eat a lot of meat in my typical diet.

However, red meat rich in protein which is supposed to be the "in thing" for type Os is nothing more than a lovely laxative. I can't actually digest such meat properly.

I am highly iron deficient anemic because of this inability to digest red meat properly. Enough that when I started iron supplements the iron in my blood was less than half of what it should be to be considered healthy and this is despite the fact I ate a lot of red meat. As in, when younger, I thought nothing of eating my 12 ounce steak and devouring a second one on top to try and compensate for the crap digestive system.


The hilarity is that all of the food that apparently doesn't do well for Type Os is food that I happen to have no problems eating and love eating.

[GogMagog]

I am O Neg, what do I eat?

[Amerijoe]

I'm AB+, what don't I eat. I believe that some people do better on certain food groups, but to attribute it to blood type may be a stretch. Haven't seen any concrete evidence lending any credence to the theory, mostly conjecture.

There is also a lot of new age medicine men out there. Be careful whose wagon you purchase from!:suspicious:

[josephrobert]

I am O+ what should I eat..?