On Sun, 20 Jul 1997, Muriel Hykes wrote:

> OK.  I am convinced.  Can anybody give me the full title and ISBN?  I can
> order it at 30% off.

It's Eat Right 4 Your Type, by Peter J. D'Adamo, published
Putnam, ISBN 0-399-14255.

>         I am suspicious of in-vitro results for the following reasons.
> 1.That is what is used by the RAST test for allergies.  It is verrrrrry
> inaccurate on foods and useless in children.

Well, his claim is that the in vitro evidence is consistent with
the clinical picture.  But I share your suspicion.

> 2. Anything can cause cell damage in-vitro.  Remember the claims that LSD
> caused chromosome damage?  Well, so can water, if y0ou expose the
> chromosomes to it.  IE. outside it's natural protection.

It's not so much damage that he's looking at as the various
agglutination and mitogenic responses.  The damage is from the
body's response to these.  Still, he doesn't give a lot of
details, and this is frustrating.  He moves quickly from a brief
discussion about lectins, antigens and the like to many
assertions about what is beneficial and what is to be avoided.
Seldom is the reader told specifically why a given food is good
or bad.  Granted there is a bibliography in the book, but it
would be nice to have more scientific meat in the text itself.

> 3. Type O neg blood has no antigens on it at all.  How can it react with
> anything?

I don't know, but this brings up the fact that some of the
recommendations have nothing to do with the lectin/antigen
interaction but are based on other alleged type-specific
considerations.  For example, type Os are said to have sluggish
thyroid function, and type As are said to have low stomach acid
levels.  There is probably a statistical basis for such claims,
but it is not presented.

This book shows the publisher's pressure to keep it simple for
the mass market.

> 4. Does he show that a certain % of As react to a substance or do all?
> This would mean that the concentrations were so high that any cell could
> react to it.

He doesn't generally give statistics and probabilities.

>         It is true, however, that most of the people I know with O neg, like me,
> are very ill and sensitive to our environment.

D'Adamo claims that type Os (pos. or neg.; Rhesus factor doesn't
enter into much) are allergy prone and have difficulty adapting
to environmental changes.

In the meantime, my last cholesterol measurement is 286, despite
throwing the kitchen sink of supplements at it.  Perhaps it is
time to try something novel.


Todd Moody
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