The Blood Type Diet

Devised by naturopathic doctor Peter D' Adamo, the blood type diet presents an unorthodox and unusual approach to food selection, based on the idea that knowing your blood type is enough to decide which foods will be good for you and which you should avoid. D'Adamo blames substances called lectins for causing liver and kidney disease in some blood types, and says that each blood type can break down some lectins better than others, meaning that a food which is good for one blood group can be harmful to another. In addition, he claims that blood type has a large effect on secretory juices, so that different blood types digest food differently.

According to D'Adamo, each blood type evolved at a different time and in a different location, and therefore each type has the capability to digest better the foods which were prevalent at the time and place that the blood type evolved. So for instance, type O can eat a lot of meat, but type AB should eat dairy products, B can eat grains but O cant, and so on. D'Adamo says that his theory is based on research started by his father and carried on by him during many years; unfortunately he doesn't seem to be able to present any hard scientific data. Instead he relies on a complicated and rather controversial set of assumptions about hereditary food sensitivities, and throws in a good amount of completely unproven and highly unorthodox science such as lectin theory.

As far as weight loss is concerned, D'Adamo doesn't make any claims, saying only that his blood type diet can improve general health and prolong the lifespan, a pretty hard thing to disprove in the short run. Even his fans, who have filled in self tested questionnaires which are very subjective, don't seem to claim much weight loss. In fact only 25% of those who responded to the on site questionnaire reported an improvement in weight on the blood type diet.

The 'Eat Right For Your Type' website, D'Adamo's official site, is aimed mostly at refuting criticism of his diets both by other naturopathic doctors and by prominent cardiologists who say that type O patients with heart disease will be at risk by following this diet. The other strong point of the site is in promoting dozens of indispensable supplements, which each blood type just has to have in order to be really healthy.

To be brutally honest, the blood type diet just doesn't cut it. First of all, you probably wont lose weight on them. Secondly, if you follow the dietary recommendations you will never be able to eat the same food as the rest of your family again, unless by some wild chance you all have the same blood type. Thirdly, you can actually get ill from following these diets in some cases, for instance if you are lactose intolerant and type AB you will not feel good on D'Adamo's recommended diet.There is still no scientific backing for D'Adamo's theories, even though he published his book in 1996, ten years ago. Almost any other diet program on the market today has more going for it than this one.