Basic info on Blood Types

The following information has been extracted from "Eat Right 4 Your Type" by Dr. Peter D'Adamo. Links to his sites are found on the links page. Keep in mind that this is not meant to be a know-all teaching, it is simply provided as a quick synopsis of blood types.

"Each blood type contains the genetic message of our ancestors.

— O Blood Type: The blood type anthropology timeline shows that Type O began around 50,000 B.C. in the Humanoid ancestors such as the Neanderthal. It is also shown in the Cro-Magnon man around 40,000 B.C. Type O blood type is for OLD, as an easy way to remember it, since it is the oldest blood type on the planet. These were the hunter-gatherers whose diet consisted mainly of protein meats and fish. The blood type O positive is the predominant blood type on the earth today. However, O negative is only approximately 7% of the entire earth's population.

Type O, the oldest and most basic blood type, the survivor at the top of the food chain, with a strong and ornery immune system willing to, and capable of, destroying anyone....friend or foe.

— A Blood Type: Blood type A, for Agrarian (where agriculture and animal domestication were the hallmarks of its culture). Initially type A appeared somewhere in Asia or the Middle East between 25,000 and 15,000 B.C. Because of migrating patterns, today type A is still found in its highest concentration among western Europeans. A's thrive on diets rich in vegetables.

Type A, the first immigrants, forced by the necessity of migration to adapt to a more agrarian diet and lifestyple...with a more cooperative personality to get along, in crowded communities.

— B Blood Type: Blood type B, is for Balance, meaning these people thrive on balanced diets, not mainly meat like an O, and not mainly veggies like an A. B developed sometime between 10,000 and 15,000 B.C. in the area of the Himalayan highlands, now part of present day Pakistan and India. Of all the ABO types, Type B shows the most clearly defined geographic distribution, found in increased numbers from Japan, Mongolia, China and India up to the Ural Mountains. From there westward, the percentages fall until a low is reached at the western tip of Europe. Modern subcontinental Indians, a Caucasian people, have some of the highest frequencies of Type B blood in the world. The B characteristics of various Jewish populations have long been of interest to anthropologists. As a general rule, regardless of their nationality or race, there is a trend toward higher-than-average rates of Type B blood. The Ashkenazim and Sephardim, the two major Jewish sects, share strong levels of Type B blood, and appear to have very few differences. The pre Diaspora Babylonian Israelites differ considerably from the primarily Type O Arabic population of Iraq (the location of the biblical Babylon) in that they are primarily Type B, with some frequency of Type A.

Type B, the assimilator, adapting to new climates and the mingling of populations; representing nature's quest for a more balanced force between the tensions of the mind and the demands of the immune system.

— AB Blood Type: This is the Modern blood type, emerging from the intermingling of Type A Caucasians with Type B Mongolians. It is found in less than 5% of the earth's population. There is no evidence of this blood type prior to about 900 years ago, mainly in Europe."

Type AB's are the delicate offspring of a rare merger between the tolerant Type A and the formerly barbaric but more balanced Type B."

"Some anthropologists believe that classifying humans into races invites oversimplification. Blood type is a far more important determinant of individuality and similarity than is race. For example, an African and Caucasian Type A blood could exchange blood or organs and have many of the same aptitudes, digestive functions, and immunological structures---characteristics that they would not share with a member of their own race who was Blood type B.

Racial distinctions based on skin colors, ethnic practices, geographical homelands, or cultural roots are not a valid way to distinguish peoples. Members of the human race have a lot more in common with one another than we may have ever suspected. We are all potentially brothers and sisters...In Blood."

"Why is our blood type so powerful? What is the essential role it plays in our survival—not just thousands of years ago but today?

Your blood type is the key to your body's entire immune system. It controls the influence of viruses, bacteria, infections, chemicals, stress, and the entire assortment of invaders and conditions that might compromise your immune system. The immune system works to define "self" and destroy "non-self."

Now it's time to go to another page and read about what makes a blood type and how food and immunity figure into the picture. Next: Food and Immunity.