For famed naturopath Peter J. D’Adamo, it’s the simplest way to lose weight.
Called the Blood Type Diet, D’Adamo claims that how you slim down depends all on your blood type–something that not only determines which foods help you lose weight, but which diet helps you digest food more easily (and have a higher metabolism to boot).
“I think the blood type diet was an astounding leap of consciousness that really had to come from the mind of a naturopath, because we spend so much time trying to find the discrete differences between people,” says D’Adamo. “On my Eat Right 4 Your Type Web site, people have reported a 75 to 81 percent success rate for the blood type diet over the years–and that’s across the board.”
Many people are reportedly fans of the diet too, including fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and singer Cheryl Cole, who reportedly uses it to keep slim all year round.
But not everyone is a fan.
“Based on the data of 1,455 study participants, we found no evidence to support the ‘blood-type’ diet theory,” says Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy, senior author of a new study that alleges that The Blood Type Diet is nothing more than pseudoscience. “The way an individual responds to any one of these diets has absolutely nothing to do with their blood type and has everything to do with their ability to stick to a sensible vegetarian or low-carbohydrate diet.”
Working on behalf of the University of Toronto, El-Sohemy and his researchers recruited 1,455 adults to undergo a series of questionnaires assessing their cardiovascular health markers and adherence to the diet protocols outlined in the Blood Type Diet. They were also quizzed about other lifestyle factors, such as their energy intake, sex, and ethnicity.
After the study, El-Sohemy found that adhering to the diet resulted in a lower body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and in some circumstances, lower triglyceride levels–but these effects occurred no matter what the person’s blood type was. And in fact, their blood type didn’t seem to affect the outcome at all.
“The ‘Blood-Type’ diet advises individuals to eat according to their ABO blood group to improve their health and decrease risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease,” says El-Sohemy. “Adherence to certain ‘Blood-Type’ diets is associated with favorable effects on some cardiometabolic risk factors, but these associations were independent of an individual’s ABO genotype, so the findings do not support the ‘Blood-Type’ diet hypothesis.”
So while the diet itself may be a good way to lose weight, chances are it’s probably not working because of your blood type, says El-Sohemy–instead, it works because the diet allows you to eat fewer calories.
What You Should Do
Thinking about trying the Blood Type Diet? Turns out the diet does work, but don’t believe the hype–your blood type has nothing to do with how well you lose weight.
Readers: What do you think about this diet? Would you try it or not?
Source:
Study: Blood Type Diet Not Scientifically Accurate But Works – PLOSOne.org
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