Eat to Live 109Encouraging animal-product consumption in any blood group is
detrimental to their long-term health.
All of us, of every blood type, will develop atherosclerosis — and
most of us will die of it — if we eat the American diet. And your risk
of a premature cardiac death might be even greater if you follow the
diets recommended by D'Adamo for type Os and type Bs.
Heart disease and certain illnesses do have genetic factors that
place some of us at higher risk than others. Heart disease or athero-
sclerosis is genetically heterogeneous. This means that there are many
genes that affect your risk. Blood type is only one of many genetic
markers involved and represents only a small percentage of genetic
susceptibility on the human genome. That blood groups show a
slight tendency to increased risk is consistent with the accepted view
that genetics plays a role in determining risk. For example, the ge-
netic influence on HDL cholesterol levels has a strong influence on
longevity, independent of blood type.'^14
When considering all the genetic risk factors together, we must
conclude that environmental influences on atherosclerosis are much
stronger than the genetic ones. Even if we combined all the genetic
influences and stratified the risk of heart disease or cancer in indi-
viduals in a more accurate way than blood type alone, we would still
find that environmental factors are more important. Cholesterol lev-
els, body weight, smoking, physical activity, food choices, and blood
pressure have been shown to have a much stronger influence on dis-
ease risk than blood grouping.^454 Blood Types, 4 Diets, 4 Get It!
D'Adamo's book mixes some interesting factual information about
blood types with a whole lot of far-fetched assertions that have no
basis in fact. Most of them are just plain wrong.
He makes many unscientific and incorrect claims that show a
poor understanding of human physiology. Do fattening, calorie-rich
foods such as vegetable oils become weight-loss-promoting foods
when consumed by a blood type A? Do these individuals not obey
the first law of thermodynamics, as do the other blood types? Does
meat cause weight gain when we don't secrete enough acid to digest
it properly, as D'Adamo asserts? Many of his claims run contrary to
established concepts in human physiology, and he suggests wild the-
ories without supporting evidence. For example, is the amount of