Serious question about (cough) "blood type diet"

[SteelWeaver]

One will skim almost anything when not in the mood to study, and "The Eat Right Diet" book was lying around the kitchen ...

Brief summary: diferent bood groups evolved through different periods in the history of the earth, O being the oldest, A next, B next and AB the newest. Thus, their metabolisms etc, etc have evolved differently, and thus, they thrive on different types of diets - the O's being good on hunter-gatherer type diets - lots of protien, veggies, fruits, not much in the way of grains, A's good on "cultivator" diets - good at being vegetarians etc, etc, etc - you get the picture. One of the key things the author (Dr P D'Amamo) refers to, though, is the way the bodies of people of different blood groups react to lectins (one of which, interestingly, is ricin, the recently popularised highly toxic poison made from castor beans).

He also goes into a fair amount of detail on other immune responses to various substances, real and so-called allergies, and has lots and lots of references at the back of his book, none of which I've checked out yet, because I just picked up this book today.

My question is: can there possibly be any scientific basis for even bothering to experiment with the proposed food choices he makes, or is the blood type diet about as scientific as the blood type personality profiling that is popular in Japan?

I like to remain open-minded about things, and to be fair, most of his sugggestions are what we here already know - eat fresh whole, natural, unprocessed, preferably organic/free range, etc foods, with large servings of fresh veggies, avoiding condiments, too much caffeine and so on. But he is very specific in his choices for each group.

So, anyone have any ideas? Opinions? Facts? Research?

I'm also interested to find out what people on this board have found for themselves in terms of what works for them, and if this has any correlation to the doctor's claims. (JJ? )

 

[FitFossil]

I've read the book and thought it was interesting. I have blood type O and for that he says we need protein. Things have definitely improved by adding protein to my diet. I think some of his recommendations are a little far-fetched, but I think you'll find that in most any diet book. He also said type 0's should avoid wheat and gluten. I tried eating Ezeikial (not sure how to spell that) bread that he recommended, but it totally sucked. I figured since I don't eat much wheat and gluten anyway, that what little I did eat would just have to be a trade off. As for other grains, I love my oats! I don't have any food allergies that I know of.

 

[JJFigure]

I haven't read that one - I may have to check it out, just out of curiousity. Anyway, I'm blood type O as well, and I do much better on protein and fat based diet than a carb based diet. I have more energy and strength, and fewer digestive issues. Wheat and I don't seem to get along either, although I've been handling oats and grits well.

 

[staw]

I did a search on the web and found some rather interesting articles. But I am computer stupid and don't know how to make links. If someone could tell me what to do (or where to find info), I would be more than happy to share.

Thanks.

 

[rez]

i went on it for a while - makes alot of sense. also good for maintainence

 

[SteelWeaver]

What blood type are you rez? O? JJ - that's interesting - I was wondering if you could be O, since low (ish) carb and no wheat is what he recommends for O's, and you've said many times that you do much better on low carb .... I'm O too, and was fairly put out by his recommendations, since eating a lot of free range meat, lots of fish and low carb is anathema to this veg-head He also says too much dairy isn't such a great idea for O's, but that soy protein is just fine. And that we do very well on lots of intense exercise. As for this last, well, I've never felt better than I have since starting weight training, but then again, who doesn't?

Anyway, if I have time I'm going to check out some of his references. If there really really is any scientific basis in the whole idea, it would seem to be worth checking out. I'm still sceptical, but why reject ideas out of hand?

 

[SteelWeaver]

Oh, staw - open 2 browser windows, one in the post reply section for this thread, and the other at whatever site you're trying to link from (you can use that window to go from site to site, if need be, and keep elite post reply in the other one). Then click on the address bar of whatever site it is (i.e. highlight it), press ctrl and c, then go to the elite post reply window, set your cursor, and press ctrl and v. Go back and forth like that til you have all the site addresses copied to your post, then post! ctrl and c copies, ctrl and v pastes.

(Or you could take out paper and pen and laboriously copy down all the site addresses, then type them into your post, but copy paste is quicker )

 

[JJFigure]

How does he define intense exercise? I have sucky endurance, so I can only handle brief intense workouts. I think that's also why I prefer lifting in a low rep range; my intensity just gives out when I'm trying to do more than 8 reps. I used to torture myself and jog for 5 miles/day, but I always felt like a slow horse. I'm a much faster runner if I limit myself to 2-3 miles or to sprint workouts.

 

[The Ranger]

0 Positive blood type here as well, and I have read quite alot on this field....Haven't really formed a true opinion on it though....All in all, I find stuff like this interesting to read, and I generally pull what I think pertains to me, and what could aid me, and use that bit for personal use....

Pretty Khule stuff though.....

Ranger

 

[MS]

There is no real world scientific evidence to support his dietary claims. That doesn't mean the diet won't work, and in fact I suspect that all the diets he recommends for the different blood types are healthier than your average western diet, so most folks will no doubt feel better by "eating for their blood type". This doesn't mean they won't feel just as good eating for one of the other blood types. Try it if you are curious, but you may also want to read editorials such as this first:
http://www.earthsave.org/news/bloodtyp.htm