<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I would like to summarize the responses I received to my post requesting
any scientific information that supports the hypothesis that certain
diseases or health problems are associated with a person's blood type, and
that there is a specific diet that one should follow if they have a certain
blood type. The responses fell into two categories: supporters v.
non-supporters.

Unfortunately the supporters could only point me back to one of the
originators of the idea - Peter D'Adamo, and used his book and web page
(http://www.dadamo.com/) as evidence for D'Adamo's ideas. As anyone who is
mildly interested in science knows, there are great problems with using the
source of an idea as its only support.

Many people did do Medline searches, including myself, and could not find
anything substantial to back up the idea. One interesting finding was the
idea that certain blood types may be vulnerable to certain diseases, which
does not necessarily back up the broad theory proposed by D'Adamo. Here is
a quote from a post I got which was taken from Linkname: Tracing the
Genetic History of Modern Man URL:
www.cycad.com/cgi-bin/Upstream/Library/Miller/genetic-history.html

"Another very important gene system is the ABO which is vital in
typing blood for transfusions. Because of the need for blood typing,
it is very well studied, and available for virtually all populations.

Certain blood types are known to be more vulnerable to certain
diseases, probably because the body can more readily recognize
certain invading organisms. For instance O individuals seem
relatively resistant to syphilis (p. 126). This may explain why
virtually all American Indians (except for Eskimos and some
northern Amerind groups) are type O, since syphilis is believed to
have been introduced into the Old World by Columbus. Individuals
with type A are more vulnerable to smallpox. Tuberculosis
(pulmonary) is believed to be more virulent in A individuals than in
O or B. Malaria shows a preference for A individuals. Thus, it
appears that balancing selection may exist for the ABO blood
group. "

 From Kemp Randolph came:

"I searched on PubMed for articles on Medline that had the (Boolean logic)
terms "blood type" AND diet AND human. I found only one article, abstract
attached. Though it's more than a case study and does involve a rare
digestive order as well, that hardly seems the basis for choosing a diet."

I have to agree with Kemp on this. This theory would not be hard to
scientifically test. If it were found to be correct the originator would
likely receive the Nobel Prize for science, and  their theory would likely
be verified by many different groups and published in many different
scientific journals, as has been done with other great theories such as
Einstein's Relativity.

The old adage "buyer beware" seems to pertain to this idea.


Scott Adams - San Francisco, USA
Celiac Support Page:
http://www.celiac.com/
The Gluten-Free Mall(TM)
Your Special Diet Superstore!(TM)
http://www.glutenfreemall.com/