Hi!

I was introduced to the blood Type Diet (BTD) by my doctor who's an advocate of it.  I've been doing a combination of the Zone and BTD for many years, by practicing strict adherence to the Zone diet while keeping my BTD "avoid" foods in mind.  This was advice given by Barry Sears when he was once asked about it.  I notice a difference with some of  the foods that the BTD suggests I avoid, and not with others.  Those foods where I notice no difference when avoiding, I still include in my diet.  I don't know if there is any significance, but most of those I do notice a positive difference  from, when avoiding them, are certain fruit and vegetables. In Mastering The Zone, Dr. Sears explained that people with the oldest blood type (Type O) are very insulin sensitive to carbohydrates. I'm a Type O positive, secretor, and this is certainly the case with me.


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sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil.   ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

I read the Blood Typing Diet book and went gung ho on it.  I didn't eat ANY of the avoids.  I tried it over the course of several months.  I was looking for a way to improve my zone results, and I saw no difference in how I was feeling, and there was no significant weight loss, other than a few pounds in the beginning, which I attribute to my zone efforts.   After a few months (and it was probably longer than that), I felt that it wasn't worth it. 

Just an example of how committed I was to seeing if this would work, I ended up giving away all of my home grown tomatoes, rather than eating them.  Now THAT is sacrifice! 

My Zone diet benefits were definitely enhanced when I began avoiding certain foods that the BTD recommends my blood type avoid.  Please read more in my 10/5/2010  11:57 AM posting in this thread. 


____________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil.   ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

blood type diet

A pseudoscientific notion dreamed up by naturopath James D'Adamo: one's diet should be determined by one's blood type. Like many quacks before him, D'Adamo appealed to intuition for his brainstorm ("over the years, he recognized that each of the 4 blood types thrived on certain foods and physical activities") and anecdotes rather than controlled studies to support the validity of his ideas.  His son, also a naturopath, Peter J. D'Adamo (about whom the rest of this entry is about) is a fruit that did not fall far from the tree. He has written several books, and travels the world promoting the blood type diet.

There is no reasonable scientific basis for the claim that blood type should determine one's diet, though Peter claims to have collected "over 1,000 scientific articles on blood types and their correlations to disease, biochemistry, nutrition, and anthropology. Even so, he's never done a controlled study on blood type diets. Yet, he claims that blood type determines body chemistry to such an extent that those with type A blood should go vegetarian and meditate, those with type O should eliminate grains and do aerobics. He suggests similar nonsense for types B and AB.

According to Michael Klaper, M.D.,

D'Adamo hangs much of his theory on the action of lectins, proteins found on the surface of certain foods that can cause various molecules and some types of cells to stick together. He blames lectins for serious disruptions throughout the body, from agglutination of the blood cells to cirrhosis and kidney failure....

Since most people are unaware of their blood types, let alone what foods are "evolutionarily inappropriate" for them to eat, it is reasonable to assume that on most days most people eat the "wrong foods" for their blood type (e.g., Type O eating wheat, Type A eating meat, etc.). Thus, according to D'Adamo's theory, most everyone experiences repeated showers of agglutinated red cells throughout their bloodstream after most every meal - day after day, month after month, year after year. If the capillary beds in your heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, eyes, and other essential organs are subjected to barrage after barrage of agglutinated red cells, they will eventually begin to clog up. These micro-areas of diminished blood flow would at first cause scattered, then more concentrated areas of tissue damage - with eventually many micro-infarctions scattered throughout these vital structures. The brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and adrenals would soon be irreparably damaged by these processes, resulting in potentially fatal outcomes in millions of people.

Such a syndrome of organ failures due to lectin-induced micro-infarctions of the brain, heart, kidneys, retinas, and adrenals would be well known to pathologists and other medical scientists. It would not be a subtle disease. In the pathology texts, there would be clear descriptions - complete with photographs taken through high-power, optical microscopes as well as electron microscopes - of damage from lectin deposits and blood agglutination in most major organ systems. The existence and intricacies of such a widespread disease would be as common knowledge among physicians and cell scientists as atherosclerosis is today. Yet, I am aware of no such descriptions in the pathologic literature. No pathologist I know has ever mentioned tissue infarction from lectin-induced red cell agglutination as a cause of any disease in humans.

Peter D'Adamo's reasoning is based on speculative inferences from such facts as that type O is the oldest blood type. From this fact, D'Adamo reasons that people with type O blood should eat the kind of diet the earliest humans ate: one rich in fat and protein.

"Group A is the second oldest blood group, appearing around 25,000 - 15,000 B.C., when larger human settlements first appeared as farming developed. From this fact, D'Adamo infers that people with type A blood should eat their veggies.

Group B "emerged between 15,000 and 10,000 B.C. as tribes migrated from Africa to Europe, Asia and the Americas and mingled with other populations. So, concludes D'Adamo, people with type B blood should eat a "balanced diet."

Blood type has little to do with digestion or body chemistry. If you have blood group A, then you've got A antigens covering your red cells and anti-B in your plasma. Antigens are substances that evoke an immune response. Since people in blood group B have B antigens and carry anti-A in their plasma, type A blood should not be given to those in Group B, and vice versa. (Group O has neither antigen and group AB has some of each.) Furthermore, about 85% of us, regardless of blood type, carry the Rh antigen, while about 15% are Rh negative. About 90 to 95 percent of African Americans and 98 to 99 percent of Asians are Rh-positive. Also, since pathologist Karl Landsteiner identified the four blood groups early in the twentieth century, 276 discrete red-cell antigens have been discovered.

Thanks for the research, John.  Sounds similar to what I have read.