Blood Type Eating

Your Blood Type Identity – the blueprint of your health

There is a connection between a person’s blood and diet.   Each person is a unique creation with specific characteristics.  No two people on earth are alike –  having the same fingerprints, lip prints, ear lobes, irises, or voices (not even identical twins);  therefore not all people should eat the same foods.

Blood is the blueprint of our health, the élan vital that has sustained us since time immemorial.  A single drop of blood, too small to see with the naked eye contains the entire genetic code of a human being.  The DNA blueprint is intact and replicated within us endlessly – via our blood.

Our blood also contains aeons of genetic memory – bits of specific programming, passed on from our ancestors in codes we are still leaarning to comprehend.  The code residing in our blood type is  perhaps the most important to decipher in our attempt to unravel the mysteries of blood, and its vital role in our existence.

To the naked eye, blood is a homogenous red liquid.  But under the microscope blood shows itself to be composed of many different elements.  The red blood cells contain a special type of iron that our bodies use to carry oxygen.  White blood cells, far less numerous than the red cruise our bloodstreams like ever-vigilant troops, protecting us against infection.

This complex, living fluid also contains proteins that deliver nutrients to the tissues, platelets that help it to clot, and plasma that contains the guardians of our immune system. 

The Importance of your Blood Type

You may not know your blood type, unless you a blood donor, or needed a transfusion.  Most people think of blood type as an inert factor that only comes into play during an emergency.  In reality, it is the driving force behind human survival, changing and adapting to new conditions, environments and food supplies.

Why is our blood type so important?  What is the essential role it plays in our survival?

Your blood type is the key to your immune system.  It controls the influence of viruses, bacteria, infections, chemicals, stress; the entire assortment of invaders/conditions that might compromise your immune system.

The immune system works to define ‘self’ and destroy ‘non-self’.  This is a critical function, for without it your immune system could attack your own tissues by mistake, or allow a dangerous organism access to vital areas of your body.  In spite of its complexity, the immune system has two basic functions:  recognizing ‘us’ and killing ‘them’.  Your body is like an invitation-only party:  If the prospective guest can produce the correct invitation, Security allows him to enter and enjoy.  If an invitation is lacking or forged, he is forcefully removed.

Enter the Blood Type

Nature has endowed our immune system with very sophisticated methods to determine if a substance is foreign or not.  One method involves chemical markers called antigens, found on the cells of our bodies.  Every life form, from the simplest virus to humans themselves has unique antigens that form part of their chemical fingerprint.  One of the most powerful antigens is the one that determines your blood type.  The different blood type antigens are so sensitive that when operating effectively, they are the immune system’s greatest security asset.  When your immune system sizes up a suspicious character (i.e. a foreign antigen from bacteria) one of the first things it looks for is your blood type antigen to tell whether the intruder is friend or foe.

Each blood type possesses a different antigen with its own special chemical structure.  Your blood type is named for the blood type antigen you possess on your red blood cells.

If you are                          Antigen(s) on your cells

Blood Type A                        A

Blood Type B                        B

Blood Type AB                     A and B

Blood Type O                       no antigens

Visualize the chemical structure of blood types as antennae projecting outwards from the surface of our cells .  They comprise chains of a repeating sugar, called fucose which by itself forms the simplest of the blood types, the O antigen of Blood Type O.  The discoverers of blood types called it ‘O’, for zero or no real antigen.  This antenna also serves as the base for the other Blood Types, A, B and AB.

Blood Type A is formed when the O antigen of fucose, plus another sugar called N-acetyl-galactosamine is added.  So, fucose plus N-acetyl-galactosamine equals Blood Type A.

Blood Type B is also based on the O antigen fucose, but has a different sugar, named D-galactosamine added on.  So, fucose plus D-galactosamine equals Blood Type B.

Blood Type AB is based on the O antigen, fucose plus the two sugars N-acetyl-galactosamine and D-galactosamine.  So, fucose plus N-acetyl-galactosamine plus D-galactosamine equals Blood Type AB.

You may be wondering about other blood type identifiers like positive and negative, or secretor/non-secretor.  Usually, when people state their blood types they say, ‘I am A positive’ or ‘I am O negative’.  These variations, or sub-groups play relatively insignificant roles.  More than 90% of all the factors associated with your blood type are related to your primary type – O, A, B, or AB

Antigens create Antibodies (Immune System Smart Bombs)

Antigens agglutinating, forming clear crystals in the blood!

When your blood type antigen senses that a foreign antigen has entered the system, the first thing it does is to create antibodies to that antigen. These antibodies, specialized chemicals manufactured by the cells of the immune system are designed to attach to and tag the foreign antigen for destruction.

Antibodies are the cellular equivalent of the military’s smart bomb.  The cells of our immune system manufacture countless varieties of antibodies, each specifically designed to identify and attach to one particular foreign antigen.  A continual battle rages between the immune system and intrudes who try to change or mutate their antigens into some new form that the body will not recognize.  The immune system responds to this challenge with an ever-increasing inventory of antibodies.

When an antibody encounters the antigen of a microbial interloper, a reaction called agglutination (gluing) occurs.  The antibody attaches itself to the viral antigen and makes it very sticky.  When cells, viruses, parasites or bacteria are agglutinated, they stick together in clusters, making their disposal all the easier.  As microbes must rely on their slippery powers of evasion, this is a very powerful defence mechanism.   It is rather like handcuffing criminals together – they are far less dangerous than when allowed to move around freely.  Sweeping the system of odd cells, viruses, parasites and bacteria, the antibodies herd the undesirables together for easy identification and disposal.

The system of blood type antigens and antibodies has other ramifications besides detecting microbial and other invaders.  Early in the 20th Century, Dr Karl Landsteiner, a brilliant Austrian physician and scientist found that blood types also produced antibodies to other blood types.  His revolutionary discovery explained why some people could exchange blood, while others could not.  Until Dr Landsteiner’s time, blood transfusions were a hit and miss affair. Sometimes they ‘took’ and sometimes not – and nobody knew why.  Thanks to him, we now know which blood types are recognized as ‘friend’ by other blood types, and which as ‘foe’.

Dr Landsteiner discovered that:

Blood Type A carried anti-B antibodies.          Type B would be rejected by Type A.

Blood Type B carried anti-A antibodies.          Type A would be rejected by Type B.

Thus, Type A and Type B could not exchange blood.

Blood Type AB carried no antibodies.  The universal receiver, it accepts any other blood type.  But, because it carried both A and B antigens, it would be rejected by all other blood types. Thus, Type AB could receive blood from everyone, but could give blood to no one (except another Type AB recipient, of course).

Blood Type O carried anti-A and anti-B antibodies.  Type A, Type B and Type AB would be rejected.

Thus, Type O could not receive blood from anyone but another Type O. But, being free of A-like and B-like antigens, Type O could give blood to everyone else.  Type O is the universal donor.

IF YOU ARE                           YOU CARRY ANTIBODIES AGAINST

Blood Type A                        Blood Type B

Blood Type B                        Blood Type A

Blood Type AB                     No antibodies

Blood Type O                       Blood Type A and

The ‘anti-other-blood-type’ antibodies are the strongest in our immune system, and their ability to clump (agglutinate) the blood cells of an opposing blood type is so powerful that it can be immediately observed on a glass slide with the naked eye.  Most other antibodies require some sort of stimulation (such as a vaccination or an infection) for their production.  The blood type antibodies are different:  they are produced automatically, often appearing at birth and reaching almost adult levels by four months of age.

But there is much more to agglutination:  It was also found that many foods agglutinate the cells of certain blood types (in a way similar to rejection) but not others, meaning that a food which may be harmful to the cells of one blood type may be beneficial to the cells of another.  Not surprisingly, many of the antigens in these foods had A-like or B-like characteristics.  This discovery provided the scientific link between blood type and diet.  Remarkably, its revolutionary implications would lie dormant for almost a century – until a handful of scientists, doctors and nutritionists began to explore the connection.

Lectins:  The Diet Connection 

Picture of Red cells affected by Lectins – Agglutinating!

A chemical reaction occurs between your blood and the foods that you eat.  This reaction is part of your genetic inheritance.  It is amazing but true that even today, your immune and digestive systems still maintain a favouritism for foods that your blood type ancestors ate.

We know this because of a factor called lectins.  Lectins, abundant and diverse proteins found in foods have agglutinating properties that affect your blood. They are a powerful way for organisms to attach themselves to other organisms.  Many germs, and even our own immune systems use this superglue to their benefit.  For example: cells in our liver’s bile ducts have lectins on their surfaces to help them snatch up bacteria and parasites.  Bacteria and other microbes have lectins on their surfaces, as well, which work rather like suction cups, so they can attach to the slippery mucosal linings of the body.  Often, the lectins used by viruses or bacteria can be blood type specific – making them a stickier pest for a person of that blood type.

So too with the lectins in food.  When you eat a food containing protein lectins that are incompatible with your blood type antigen, the lectins target an organ or bodily system (kidneys, liver, brain, stomach, etc.) and begin to agglutinate blood cells in that area.

Many food lectins have characteristics that are close enough to a certain blood type antigen to make it an enemy to another.  For example: milk has B-like qualities. If a person with Type A blood drinks it, his system will immediately start the agglutination process in order to reject it.

Even a minute quantity of a lectin is capable of agglutinating a large number of cells if the particular blood type is reactive.  This does not mean that you should suddenly become fearful of every food you eat.  After all, lectins are abundant in pulses, seafood, gains, and vegetables.  It is hard to bypass them.  The key is to avoid the lectins that agglutinate your particular cells – determined by blood type.  For example, gluten – the most common lectin found in wheat and other grains – binds to the lining of the small intestine, causing substantial inflammation and painful irritation in some blood types – especially Type O.

Lectins vary widely according to their source.  For example, the lectin found in wheat has a different shape and attaches to a different combination of sugars than the lectin found in soya, making each of these foods dangerous for some blood types but beneficial for others.

Food is a major invader of the body.  The need for the immune system to react appropriately to digested material is of paramount importance to survival.  That is why there are more immune cells and activity in the gastrointestinal tract than anywhere else in the body.

We can also look at the animal kingdom to understand these important concepts.  Instinct drives animals to eat.  Lions are meat eaters – they won’t be happy if you try to feed them a diet rich in fruit and vegetables.  Some other animals are vegetarian by instinct, and they will not eat meat.  This is no accident – instinct is a protective mechanism for all animals, including humans.  Each blood type has different characteristics that allow the person to eat, digest and assimilate food best suited to that group.  If not, agglutination happens.