Certain foods, and food groups act like poisons to certain blood types. What can be a medicine for one person, can be a poison for another. How is this possible? Because of genetics.
You were born with a basic blood type. O, A, B, or AB. You got it from your parents genes. Genes have a way of representing a bit of genetic history.
Type O blood is said to be the oldest blood and shows a connection to the hunter-gatherer cultures. This blood type is strongly aligned with high protein consumption in the form of animal meat and individuals with type O blood might generally produce higher stomach acids. This is typically the group that experiences more incidence of gastric ulcer disease than the other groups. Type O’s handle animal protein well but grains like whole wheat, and dairy products are not so good. Type O groups comprise about 46% of the American population.
Blood group A was the next said to evolve and merged with the development of agricultural practices. Blood group A is primarily associated with vegetarian food sources and individuals in that group secrete smaller amounts of stomach acid. Protein requirements are not any less than a group O person but the source is different. Type A’s do poorly with the typical meat and potato fare and are predisposed to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Soy proteins, grains, and vegetables are important for type A’s as well as food that is fresh, pure and organic. Group A comprises 42% of the American population. Then there is type B and AB.
The key to all of this is sugar and lectin chemistry. Different blood types are incompatible with different sugars and lectins (proteins) of certain food groups. You will come to understand the importance of blood typing against your dietary history in relationship to the microscopic findings.
It’s the Sugar that Determines the Type
What is responsible for blood type is a sugar that is adsorbed (stuck) to the outside of the red blood cell. For type O blood it is fucose, for type A it is a combination of fucose and N-Acetyl galactosamine, for type B it is fucose and D-Galactose, and type AB is a combo of the sugars for both A and B blood type.
A person’s blood type is not just related to their blood, but to their whole body. Sweat, tears, saliva, all body fluids actually have the same blood type because the sugar is secreted or spread throughout the body. There is an enzyme called fucosyltransferase (FUT) responsible for this secretion. A gene controls this.
Some people have a gene defect (20% of the population) for the production of FUT and hence they have much lower secretion of the blood type sugar in their other fluids. These folks are called non-secretors.
When you are secreting your blood type sugars in sweat, etc., this acts as a protective shield from bacteria, viruses and other microbes. A non-secretor does not have this shield and it takes a bit longer for the body to recognize pathogens. It also means there can be a greater influence of food sensitivities and with a bit more stress on the immune system and more susceptibility for certain illnesses as well.
The sugars responsible for blood type are also found in animals, microorganisms, soil, food. Viruses can have them. When a virus with the same sugar hits an individual with the same sugar blood type, the antigen of the virus gets in the door a little easier as the body sees it as self and the defense system is out to lunch. A household may have multiple blood types people in the house, and when a virus hits, one might get hit a little harder depending on the blood type sugar compatibility.
Transfusion Factor
You may recall that some people cannot have a transfusion of other people’s blood. The blood type of a donor might be incompatible with the blood type of the receiver. Why? Different sugars – and you can refer to them as antigens. If the receiver gets the wrong blood – the foreign antigen/sugar – the body mounts a defense. The antibodies generated will proceed to agglutinate the donated red blood cells together in order to be destroyed, clot masses can form and yikes, the receiver can clot to death.
Blood Type Sugars in Food
Some foods can have blood type antigens as well. Look at milk. It is the secretion of a cow. So what is a cow’s blood type? Well, there is a large amount of D-galactose in milk. That is the type B sugar. So, blood type B people have little issue with milk, not so much for the others. The digestive system handles much. If it didn’t, the milk going in would be like a transfusion with incompatible blood hitting the system. Yes that could be a problem. As it is, there is often an immune response at some level for many when they consume milk due to the incompatibility.
Back to Lectins
The protein molecules that can be incompatible with blood, can stick on binding sites of red blood cells that are designed to stick sugars. What does that mean? Agglutination of your red blood cells. Result: poor circulation, inability to adequately transfer oxygen from red blood cells to tissues, inflammation. Can this be a problem? You betcha.