Eating for Your Blood Type

The array of popular diets in America today is dizzying. We can eat vegan, vegetarian, raw food, lactose-free, gluten-free or organic. We can eat like our ancestors with the paleo diet or focus on our weight with the Zone, Atkins, South Beach or Weight Watchers diets. We can even eat for our blood type.  

What’s Your Type?

Whether you are type O, A, B or AB, Peter D’Adamo, N.D., founder of the Blood Type Diet, has specific recommendations for you. Type O? Go heavy on lean meat, poultry, fish and vegetables, and light on grains, beans and dairy. Type A blood types are better off vegetarian, while Type B should be a “balanced omnivore,” focusing on meat, dairy, grains, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruit, but avoiding chicken. Type AB gets cut the most slack, with a recommendation to follow a mixed diet in moderation.  

Yet D’Adamo, who authored Eat Right 4 Your Type,  insists it’s more than just a diet. “Unlike most diet plans, the Blood Type Diet is a holistic approach to a healthier lifestyle. It personalizes everything from the food you eat and your exercise regime to how you manage stress based on your blood type,” he explains. D’Adamo says losing weight is just the tip of the iceberg of results. “Increased energy, a stronger immune system and better gut health are just some of the added benefits you will see.”  

Does it work?

There is no conclusive scientific evidence that any results from this diet are linked to blood type, but experts do say following it will likely lead to weight loss because it steers you away from processed food and simple carbs. Others are more critical. “I think eating for your blood type is ridiculous,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D. and author of Read It Before You Eat It (Plume, 2010). “I could fill the room with people 6’4” or 4’11”, male and female, skinny and obese, and you’re saying they should all eat the same fashion for the same blood type?” To her point, the diet does not take into account whether you suffer from ailments such as diabetes or heart disease, which may require you to have food restrictions counter to those recommended for your blood type.  

D’Adamo notes, however, that while some other diets promote more questionable behavior such as fasting or overexertion, he says, “There is nothing risky with this diet. Simply switching out for foods that react negatively with your blood type to kinds that benefit you will cause broad, sweeping changes.”  

Still, Taub-Dix says for health and weight loss, she tells clients to simply watch portions and eat a balanced diet. She adds, “You never want to be faced with a list of foods to avoid, especially if you love them.”