On Sun, 1 Sep 2002, Aileen Keller wrote:

> His primary reason for recommending that Type A's avoid beef is that they do
> not produce the digestive fluids necessary to digest beef properly, either in
> the stomach or in the intestine.  He has done research matching fluid levels
> to blood type and claims that Type A's do tend to have lower levels,
> especially when compared to Type O.  Based on this same evidence, my
> conclusion is the exact opposite.  Every Type A subject found to be deficient
> in digestive juices could be assumed to have been eating the standard
> American diet high in sugar and grains.  My conclusion is that type A's are
> even more sensitive than Type O's to today's high-grain diet and that is
> reflected by their low digestive juice output.  Therefore, it is even more
> important for Type A's to return to a meat-based caveman diet.  This could be
> done gradually if a person feels a genuine difficulty digesting meat.

You know, I raised this question with D'Adamo when I was on his
bulletin board, some years back.  Since it seems to be a fact
that type As produce less stomach acid than Os, how do we know
that this isn't an *effect* of improper diet?  Also, does *less*
stomach acid necessarily  imply *insufficient* acid?  D'Adamo
admitted that we don't really know whether type A stomach acid
secretion might be suppressed by something else, and I don't
think he replied to the other point.  At least, I don't remember
a reply.

Gastric acid does prepare protein for digestion, but from what I
have read a small amount is adequate.  Dogs make more stomach
acid than any humans, even type Os.  Some think that the reason
for a lot of stomach acid is disinfecting the food, rather than
just digesting protein.  If type Os proliferated first, as seems
to be the case, that could be simply because they ate more
carrion, which needed the acid bath.  As cooking of meats became
more universal, less acid was needed, so type A could
proliferate.  This is just my theory, however.  I'm a type A, but
I have no problem digesting meats in substantial amounts.

Todd Moody
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