Introduction
Your blood type is the key to how foods affect your body and as a consequence it provides a guide that can
improve your health, physical vitality and emotional strength. The link between blood types and food explains
many of the paradoxes that have been observed in dietary studies over the years, it also explains why some
people are able to lose weight on particular diets whilst others do not. The link between blood type and diet
has been developed by two American Naturopathic Physicians, James and Peter D´Adamo and is based on 40
years of observation and research. From these observations the D ´Adamo´s have developed comprehensive
lists of how specific foods affect the body and more importantly, which foods can be toxic to your blood type.
There is considerable evidence that the development of the various blood types is related to changes in diet
during our evolutionary history. The original hunter and gatherer populations were type O, however with
increasing population and migrations the other blood types developed. The first appearance of type A in
appreciable numbers was during the agricultural revolution about 10.000 years ago. People with type A blood
were more suited to the largely vegetarian diet and hence were more likely to survive than their type O pre-
decessors. The type B blood type developed amongst the nomadic steppe dwellers of central Asia and Mon-
golai. These people were amongst the first communities to consume diary foods in substantial quantities and
it is not surprising that people with type B blood are able to tolerate dairy foods better than other individuals.
The type AB blood type developed about 2000 years ago as a result of intermingling of type A and type B
societies.
The importance of blood type in the development of disease has been recognized for many years. Type O´s
are more prone to ulceration whereas type A´s are prone to cancer and cardiovascular disease, however the
reason for these observations was not known. The D´Adamo´s work on blood types and diet provides a simple
and elegant understanding of how food, or more specifically substances in foods called lecitins, can interact
with the blood and thus provide an environment in which disease can develop. The cells in our body have
markers on their surfaces called antigens, that the immune system uses to determine whether the substances
or cells are foreign or not. One of the most powerful antigens in the body is the one that determines blood
type. It is found on the surface of red bood cells and your blood type is named for this antigen. For example,
blood type A has the A antigen on the surface, blood type B has the B antigen, blood type AB has both the A
and B antigens and blood type O has no antigens.
The key to the blood type approach to diet is that your body will reject blood type antigens that are not of your blood type. That is:
Blood type A will acept type A and reject type B antigens
Blood type B will acept type B and reject type A antigens
Blood type AB will accept any other blood type
Blood type O will reject all other blood types
The link between blood type and food is found in components of foods called lecitins, and these leticins can
mimic the blood type antigens. Simply put, when you eat food containing lecitins that are incoppatible with
your blood type antigens, the lecitins target on organ or bodily system and causes the blood cells in that area
to clump together. This clumping is then associated with tissues destruction and can be a major factor in the
development of disease.
