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Posted by admin on March 31st, 2007 filed in Diet Reviews

The Blood Type Diet was developed by Dr. Peter D’Adamo, a 20-year naturopathic expert, best known for his research into nutrition and the varied human blood groups. The diet is designed for each individual blood type, claiming to help improve overall digestion and aid in losing weight.

The diet has very specific and strict lists of foods that have to be avoided by each blood type. Apparently, each different blood type has different digestive/stomach enzymes and acidity levels, which will react normally according to the foods designed for them. Each food is divided into one of three categories: neutral; avoid; or beneficial (dependant on the lectin levels).

The diet can work if you have the self-discipline to stick to its strict regime. The diet provides detailed instructions for each food, how much of each food to have, and when to have each meal. It is possible, if the diet works for the individual person, that weight loss may occur. However, the disadvantages to this diet are very clear. To plan a diet around blood types is okay for the individual who never has to cater for anyone else, but for the average person, whether they have friends, room-mates or a family, this diet involves supplying special foods for each person with different blood types, incurring a great expense in the long run. The other concern is regarding the elimination recommended foods from the food groups, leading to deficiencies, potential illnesses and possible long-term damage.

The other concern is the need to buy books in order to learn more and to properly do this diet. The website, http://www.dadamo.com, offers 12 lessons, which are very limited, don’t explain a lot, and encourage the purchase of at least three required books. Is this diet really about healthy weight loss or just about a marketing campaign for a diet, which apparently appears to have no scientific back-up from the main medical community? In fact, some of the reference material in the media center, specifically the first Medline entry, leads to a medical opinion on the US National Library of Medicine website, which questions the scientific findings and suggests that more scientific and medical research needs to be done.

Recommendation: check with your doctor before starting any diet.

Tags: Diet Reviews