was just the beginning of the ongoing research into the relationship between ABO blood types and disease, and how selecting the right foods and living the right life can protect you.
Human Evolution and Blood Types
The four different blood types, O, A, B and AB, didn’t appear on earth all at the same time. The first three are a product of human evolution and the latter the consequence of As and Bs intermingling.
Man as we know him today appeared on this planet around 40,000BC, in eastern Africa. A branch of anthropology that investigates humankind’s biological differences has concluded that our ancestors and the first men on earth, the hunter-gatherers, were blood type O. All mankind at that time, and for approximately the next 20,000 years, had the same blood type. Around 20,000BC a combination of increased population and depleted hunting grounds forced the hunter-gatherers to migrate to western Africa and the Asian and European continents. As our hunter ancestors adapted their diet and lifestyle to a different environment, their body also underwent a radical change. A new blood type appeared in response to a new man: the farmer. He cultivated grains, reared animals and lived in communities. Type A evolved from type O.
It was another 5,000–10,000 years before another blood type made its appearance as an evolutionary step from the original blood type O: type B. This appears to have been the result of hunter-gatherers migrating from the heat of eastern Africa to the cold conditions in the Himalayas, where Bs are thought to have evolved. These people were either nomads roaming the country to conquer better lands or farmers working the land they had settled on.
Blood type AB, only about 5 per cent of the world population, is the result of marriages between blood type A populations and blood type B populations. This blood type seems to have appeared not much more than 1,000 years ago.
What does all this tell us? Simply that blood groups are not arbitrary – they appeared as a direct response to man’s physical and nutritional environment and those early blueprints laid down for each blood type continue to have relevance to this day.
Our Blood Type is Part of Our Identity
Genetics have a lot to say as to who we are. The environment in which we live, our lifestyle and our thoughts may be even more important, but our blood type is part of our genetic design and cannot be ignored. The way we plan our life in terms of nutrition, exercise, thought, stress management etc. will make our blood type friend or foe. In other words, if we follow the recommendations that enable our body to positively adjust its biochemistry, we are likely to benefit from vibrant health. On the contrary, if we make choices that disrupt our metabolism, clog up our system with toxins and make our cells stick together, we are heading for trouble.
Our blood type gives information to our body, telling it how to react when confronted by a host of circumstances such as stress; invasion by viral, bacterial, parasitic or fungal infections; or food entering the body. Psychologically and physically each blood group reacts differently to these influences: a specific food can be beneficial or detrimental to our health depending on whether we are an O, an A, a B or an AB; an infective agent will have something to hold onto depending on our blood group; our susceptibility to common diseases or more serious ones is linked to our blood group; the means by which an O will lose weight is not the same as for an A.
And this isn’t anecdotal information. Much of this information can be found in scientific literature. Dr D’Adamo has referenced over 1500 research studies to back up his work.
My Personal Experience with the Blood Type Diet
As a nutritionist I ate, for many years, what I considered to be a very healthy diet – at least I thought it was. I was cutting down on red meats and increasing fish and poultry, replacing wheat with other grains such as rye and spelt (in bread), eating rice, quinoa and millet. I made the effort to cook lentils and pulses. Instead of cow’s cheese I would eat goat’s and sheep’s cheese and yogurt. I was taking plenty of supplements, as well as digestive enzymes. Yet despite all this I still struggled with my weight and had trouble with my immune system during the winter.
Then one day I came across a paragraph on “Blood type and diet” in Dr Ralph Golan’s book, Optimal Wellness. This very briefly described Peter D’Adamo’s work, and to me it sounded so right. Being an O, something deep down in me had always resisted becoming a vegetarian. I just instinctively knew I needed animal protein.
I applied the little I read in Ralph Golan’s description to myself and soon began to feel the benefit. Suitably impressed, I put into practice the advice in Peter D’Adamo’s book. The result? I moved onto a higher level of health. Being blood type O I had permission to eat meat, which I love. Unfortunately I had to give up cheese (which is particularly difficult when you live in France). Os can only have a small amount of goat’s and sheep’s cheese (I was still eating too much). Grains are to be avoided and I can attest to that. Whenever I was tempted to eat normal wheat bread or even too much spelt bread, I immediately felt the difference – a heaviness set in and I put on weight. That was when I first started the diet – I now know what to do to feel good, be healthy and lean. If I am tempted all I need to do is remind myself of how good I feel and, more often than not, following the blood type diet takes precedence over the indulgence. Although it took a little time to adjust to some of the changes, I now positively enjoy the many beneficial foods that are suitable for my blood type.
Since discovering Peter D’Adamo’s book, I have introduced his findings to my patients and continue to do so. To me, the most convincing evidence that there is truth in the blood type diet lies in my own experience and the results my patients are getting with this method of eating.
the key to the blood type diet: lectins
Extensively researched for their good and bad effects, but little spoken of in nutritional circles, lectins encountered in the foods we eat are the so-called “scientific link between blood type and diet”. Before looking into the effects lectins can have in our bodies, let me give a brief description of what knowing about your blood type means – other than making sure you don’t receive the wrong blood during a transfusion.
the reality of lectins
How does our blood type influence our food choices? The main reason is the presence of lectins in the vegetable and animal kingdom. They can also be found in micro-organisms and viruses. Basically lectins are a type of protein. Not all foods contain lectins but those we encounter in our foods are of great importance to our health.
The beneficial and harmful effects of lectins are being extensively studied. It has been found, for example, that the lectins in the following foods have beneficial effects: the lectin in the edible snail has an anti-cancer effect in types A and AB, peanuts may have a preventive effect against breast cancer in blood type A, and lentils and broad (fava) beans may also have anti-cancer effects in type A.
The harmful lectins should, in contrast, be considered our number one enemy. You will soon understand why. Lectins are like mischievous little underworld creatures. They come along in the body, seek out the cells they are akin to, make them clump together so they are stuck and can’t carry out their work properly, then run off to do the same elsewhere. Or in the words of Dr D’Adamo, “Once the intact lectin protein settles someplace in your body, it literally has a magnetic effect on the cells in that region. It clumps the cells together and they are targeted for destruction, as if they too were foreign invaders.”
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