Dr. Peter D'Adamo first outlined the idea that people with different blood types --including those with type AB negative blood -- can enhance their health by eating particular diets in his 1996 book "Eat Right 4 Your Type." According to D'Adamo, individuals with either positive or negative AB blood types will benefit from a diet that emphasizes foods like seafood, dairy products and vegetables, along with avoiding specific foods and incorporating certain habits into their daily routines. While the Blood Type Diet has many supporters, a number of health professionals believe the diet's claims are not supported by scientific evidence.
Background
D'Adamo based his Blood Type Diet on the theory that different blood types represent differences in our evolutionary ancestry and that these differences are manifested in the way our immune systems respond to substances known as lectins, which are contained in all foods. According to D'Adamo, eating foods with lectins that are not recognized and welcomed by our bodies is the cause of food allergies, sluggish metabolism, weight gain and a wide variety of health problems. Proponents of the diet contend that people with the AB blood type can only experience true health and sustainable weight loss by eating foods that do not aggravate their immune systems.
Recommended Foods
Those with type AB blood have type A's low stomach acid, as well as type B's adaptation to meats. Type B individuals lack enough stomach acid to metabolize meat efficiently and meat you eat tends to get stored as fat, according to the Eat Right for Your Type website. If you have AB blood, proponents of the diet recommend focusing on seafood like salmon, tuna and red snapper; dairy products like non-fat yogurt; tofu; meats like lamb or mutton and beans such as lentils, navy beans and pinto beans. Grains like millet, oatmeal and rice, as well as any items made from rice, rye or oat flour, are considered beneficial. Type AB individuals should focus eat leafy green vegetables like kale, mustard greens, broccoli and collard greens, as well as sweet potatoes and eggplants. Fruits beneficial for AB individuals are include cherries, grapes, plums, pineapple and lemons. For cooking and dressings, people with type AB blood should use olive oil.
Food to Avoid
People with Type AB blood should avoid shellfish like shrimp, lobster or clams; smoked or cured meats; beef; pork; caffeine; alcohol and whole milk dairy products. They should also try to severely limit their consumption of oils like corn and safflower, all types of seeds, cornmeal, buckwheat, both oranges and orange juice, any pickled condiments or items and corn, avocados, mushrooms, olives and any type of peppers. The fruits that Type AB people should avoid include bananas, mangoes, coconuts and pomegranates. All refined and processed food items should be avoided as much as possible.
Lifestyle Recommendations
The Eat Right for Your Type site advises that Type AB individuals should eat smaller meals more frequently than the traditional daily meal schedule and should not eat starchy carbohydrates in the same sitting as a protein food. In addition, AB individuals should plan on incorporating aerobic exercise into their weekly routine in 45 to 60 minute blocks. Days of exercise should be interspersed with days involving yoga or meditation sessions.
Considerations
No reliable scientific evidence exists to support the Blood Type Diet or D'Adamo's assertion that health problems and weight gain are linked to consuming foods with lectins that are not compatible with an individual's body chemistry, according to MayoClinic.com. In addition, the Diet TV website points out that successfully following the Type AB diet outlined by D'Adamo is difficult and requires some potentially drastic eating habit changes that may be hard for many people to adhere to as a long-term weight loss strategy.
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