Do blood type diets work?

If you haven’t already heard of it, the blood type diet suggests that certain foods are best for health depending on your blood group. Dr. Peter D’Adamo popularized it in 1996 in his book “Eat Right 4 Your Type” by advising that an individual’s optimal diet depends on their blood type.

Read: Popular fad diets your should not follow

What it is

According to Dr. D’Adamo’s chart for foods to be consumed by particular blood group types, this is what you must eat if you wish to follow the diet plan:

• Blood group type A: All individuals belonging to this blood group must consume a plant-rich diet and stay away from red meat completely. It’s basically a vegetarian diet.
• Blood group type B: Wheat, tomato, lentils, chicken, pork and few dairy items have to be avoided by this blood group. You can eat all plants and vegetables and red meat.
• Blood group type AB: Since this is a mix of the two blood groups above, according to Dr. D’Adamo, foods like beef, chicken, kidney beans, and corn should be avoided. However, you can consume tofu, dairy items, grains, beans, and seafood.
• Blood group type O: This diet plan will remind you of the paleo diet. It concentrates on the intake of high protein foods like poultry, fruits and vegetables rich in protein, fish, and meat. However, dairy items, legumes, and grains must be avoided.

Read: Weight loss guide – All your queries on losing weight answered

The good

The only good part about the diet, which, of course, has no linking to the blood group part, is that it concentrates on the consumption of natural food and does not include any processed food. Once processed and junk food is out of your daily food habits, you obviously will observe positive difference regardless of whether you follow any diet pattern or not.

The bad

While a few celebrities may have benefitted from this diet and hence its popularity, but according to many nutritionists and a review study ^[1] conducted in 2013, it is a fad diet and deprives your body of several important nutrients. Moreover, there is no scientific evidence that the blood group diets works or is beneficial for health.

In fact, a study ^[2] was conducted where 1455 participants were exposed to all the blood group diets irrespective of their blood groups. The Type A diet was found to be very effective in all individuals. Type B diet did not show improved levels in the biomarkers. These positive effects from the diet were observed in individuals from all blood groups following the type A diet. Hence, there is no connection between the effectiveness of the blood group diet to particular diet type.

Whether a certain diet works or not depends on a lot of factors which include your metabolism, body type, the nature of physical activity per day and your medical history too. The blood type diet does not consider all these factors before chalking out a plan and hence is not a healthy way to lose weight. Check the healthy weight loss plan by expert dietitian Shilpa Mittal.

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References:

1. Leila Cusack, Emmy De Buck, Veerle Compernolle, and Philippe Vandekerckhove. Blood type diets lack supporting evidence: a systematic review. Published May 22, 2013, doi: 10.3945/ ajcn.113.058693
2. Jingzhou Wang, Bibiana García-Bailo, Daiva E. Nielsen, and Ahmed El-Sohemy. ABO Genotype, ‘Blood-Type’ Diet and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors. PLoS One. 2014; 9(1): e84749.

 

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