Introduction
I am often asked what I think about blood type (ABO grouping,
RH factor) dietary schemas which purport to tell people which foods to
eat and which to avoid. Here, in brief, are my thoughts. This
page will likely expand with the passage of time -- this is a work in progress!
Some Reservations
I, and others as well, have noted a number of apparent
flaws with the blood type prescriptive schemas for diet, both in the cooked
food realm and in the raw foods realms. I suspect that there is some truth
to the idea that ABO blood types do broadly indicate which genetic subtype
a person may belong to, but I believe that this schematic system is very
broad and rather fuzzy, and, worse, obscures or ignores some important
facts common to ALL blood types, such as the fact (in my mind, at least,
as well as that of other RVAF diet theoreticians and practitioners), that
the vast majority of persons (of any or all types) show little tolerance
for non-Paleolithic foodstuffs, for almost all processed foodstuffs, for
processed and refined oils, for pasteurized dairy, and for most cooked foods.
In 1996 through 1997, in two separate tests using urine
Indican testing, I was able to demonstrate that although I was chronically
(daily) eating large quantities of foods which are not, according to D'Adamo's
book, suitable for my blood type, I showed no trace of urinary indoles
(which would indicate undesirable fermentation in the lower GI tract),
as repeatedly and strongly predicted by Dr. Peter D'Adamo inhis book. I
attempted to correspond with D'Adamo via his message board, about this
discrepancy, but never received a response from him. Interestingly, my
post to his board did elicit several private responses from others who had
observed that their bodies simply did not react in the clockwork fashion
to food as predicted by the "Recommended" and "Avoid" food lists
for their blood types from D'Adamo's book. I have since heard a number
of anecdotal, experience-based stories which tend to support what I had
noticed.
Recommendations
I suggest you forget all about the blood type hoopla
regarding vegetables, dairy and other things, and instead listen to your
body and your intuition. I further suggest that most folks are better
off eating a raw Paleolithic diet (a raw vegetation and animal foods diet,
aka RVAF diet), or, if that is simply too much trouble, at least a partially-cooked
Paleolithic diet, in order to avoid the foods to which almost all of us
may react poorly, and to maximize consumption of foods suited for our bodies.
My estimation as a scientist, as well as an intuitive,
is that D'Adamo's Blood Type schema is an almost-hopeless over-simplification
-- with lots of concomitant errors -- of a complex fact that each of us
has differing genetics, and that each of us reacts differently to certain
foods. Unfortunately, I do not believe blood type to be a particularly
reliable way of decoding those genetic preferences. However, for
people eating cooked foods diets, I do believe that blood type schema can
be a convenient starting point, and far better than no guidance at al,
in helping to set up an initial diet. However, even here I recommend
fine-tuning and tinkering based upon what your body really needs and wants,
and what it does not want.