Who You Gonna Call, Part VII: The Guys Telling You to Eat for Your “Type”

Joe Mercola’s been hyping his metabolic typing program to his 1.5 million readers.   You, too, can pay big bucks for it, as soon as he’s done creating it.   He continues to tell people to eat lots of whey protein powder (which he sells) and avoid eating  grains, despite a massive body of evidence  telling us otherwise.   (Mercola’s a great watchdog and right on so many other things, though.)    Peter D’Adamo has already sold millions of copies of his book Eat Right for Your Blood Type.   He prescribes a certain diet to follow for A, B, AB, and O blood types.

People following the plan quit eating wheat and dairy and think that it’s the blood type diet that helped them feel better.   In fact, it’s eliminating foods that many people are sensitive to that makes a difference, because no scientific evidence underpins D’Adamo’s recommendations.    Those recommendations have just made us all more anxious and confused.   And they’ve led more people down a path of eating a death-promoting diet rich in animal products like the Diet Docs recommend.   (Unless you’re Blood Type A–D’Adamo says you folks are supposed to be vegetarian!)

Joel Fuhrman, M.D., methodically took D’Adamo’s entire theory apart, using the  body of scientific literature easily accessed in medical databases.   D’Adamo says Type A people should eat vegetables since they’re more prone to heart disease and cancer.   Problem is, they’re not, when all types of heart disease are examined.   Any slight differences in a few studies don’t warrant radically different nutritional recommendations.   Type O, B, and AB folks get PLENTY of heart disease and cancer, and sending them down the track toward more disease is a travesty.

All the other blood types are supposed to follow D’Adamo’s specific recommendations for lots of cheese, or lots of meat, or both.   It’s all underpinned by terribly flawed logic and gross misunderstandings of human physiology and nutrition.

We do have some variations in our genetic makeup and needs (especially as more and more people develop sensitivities and allergies to good foods).   But many genetic factors affect your risk for various diseases, blood type playing only a small role at best.   Please don’t trouble yourself to buy/read/follow this misguided program, yet another of the false gods of nutrition at whose altar we worship.

Tomorrow I end  this “false gods” series  and sum it all up, just before leaving town for the rest of the week to collect some Vitamin D watching my son play baseball in a sunny place.   Yesssssss!

Posted in: Healthy Weight, Lifestyle, Whole Food