I do not know whether I will try this approach, partly because I, like most people in the standard deviation of 1, take responses such as yours as unadultrated narcissism and it discredits you; even though you may be correct in your beliefs. I truly wish you the best, and hope you will consider working on your social skills.

Editor’s comments: “Deep woundedness?” “Bitterly defensive?” Riiiiiight.

Elizabeth, it looks like you really spent a lot of time learning about who we are and what we do (you also don’t seem to be too good at following directions – this discussion is really supposed to be for people who have used this diet. Folks who want to rant about us should use the “contact us” form).

Frankly, we’re happy to carry on any discussion in a civil manner, but should visitors accuse of of slander, question our motives and generally leave comments that are not made in the spirit of a genuine exchange of ideas, you can expect us to respond accordingly. Somehow though, you see all visitor’s comments as well intentioned (and certainly the majority of them are), but those few who left insulting and rude comments don’t get the same warning as we do – to improve their social skills.

Regarding the recommendation from your doctor; have you asked him/her to provide some clinical evidence that the “Eat Right For Your Blood Type” works as advertised? Please send us the links to the peer-reviewed published data, we’d absolutely LOVE to see it. We’ll be happy to publish the data and revise our review accordingly.

In the meantime, it’s a great big web out there. You’ll probably be MUCH happier somewhere else.

However I believe that there is indeed “something” to his theory that must be somewhat accurate as out of the 542 people that have reviewed the book on Amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/y96jlte, 426 people rated it between 4 (73 reviews) and 5 (353 reviews) stars with their testimonials to their success by following their blood type diet as recommended. That means that roughly 79% of the people who bought the book would recommend it. Those are pretty good odds in my book.

Does this mean his theory is “correct”, not necessarily. However, if people are having success by following the theory and it is helping them feel better and lose weight, why does it matter whether he can “prove” that it works or not. If it works for 79% of the people then I would say that the proof is in the results that people are having and that is really all that matters in my opinion.

People have to do what works for them so although as you stated there may be other reasons for their successes, the fact that it is working for so many people is a good thing. Whatever way people find that works for them is great. The solution will be different for everyone…and this may be one of those solutions that works not only by changing what people eat but it may work for their way of living i.e. easy to follow guidelines etc.

Editor’s comments: A couple of comments, Lanette…

To summarize your argument you are saying that even if D’Adamo’s theories are a bust, it’s of little consequence since the end result – people begin making intelligent eating choices and lifestyle changes and are losing weight – is a good one. Personally, we can see why anyone would think that, but there are issues with this line of thinking. The problem is that many people will confuse “cause and effect”, attributing their success on the diet to some magical matching of their blood types to diet, and not because of the fact that they’ve lowered their caloric intake, and have replaced high-calorie nutritionally deficient foods with low calorie wholesome ones.

This sort of thing encourages a belief in magic and pseudoscientific hokum while suspending critical thought. In the case of D’Adamo’s diet, it’s all pretty benign stuff. No one is going to get hurt “eating right for your blood type.” But what if you were being asked to curtail conventional cancer treatment in favor of some “traditional” herbal concoction that has never been tested? Here’s where a willingness to accept non-convention theories without question becomes dangerous. The point is, D’Adamo is making claims to support the effectiveness of his work and the onus is on him to prove his methods are sound. I’m sure you don’t expect a different standard from the people who make the car you drive, and claim it to be “safe” and that it stops quickly.

Secondly, you make the statement “79% of the people who bought the book would recommend it.” That is incorrect. 79% of the people who bought the book AND who left feedback on Amazon would recommend it. That’s a LOT different than saying that this diet has a 72% approval rate. If D’Adamo sold 100,000 copies of this book, 500 reviews would represent a mere 0.5% fraction of all users.

Additionally, as already discussed in the review, there are plenty of reasons why the diet will work and none of them have anything to do with blood type and diet. If all postings were genuine, it would not surprise us one bit. Second, retailers are well aware of the power of testimonials, and many go out of the way to encourage ardent supporters to post glowing reviews, which leads to a positively skewed rating. This is done all the time. Even though this may not be actively encouraged by D’Adamo, this is the sort of diet that encourages its followers to actively share their glowing yet (totally anecdotal experiences) with others, often because they believe D’Adamo is a genius, and reviews like this are the result of some vast pharmaceutical conspiracy designed to suppress “the truth”.

http://www.biotype.net/diets/Lectin.pdf

What frustrates me is the contradicting opinions I read about SOME foods that are important to me.

Editor’s comments: M, thanks for sending this along. But this is not “proof” nor does it validate D’Adamo’s theory. In fact, even the author of this paper agrees. For instance, see page 14, “Can food sensitivities be predicted by blood type? Yes and No.”

And on page 15, “research is needed to identify evolutionary patterns in diets.”

So while there may be some basis of truth here, it has not been conclusively demonstrated. And that’s basically our argument in a nutshell anyway.

Editor’s comments: I can see why you don’t understand why we devote some time “bad mouthing this book.” After all, you haven’t taken the time to find out who we are, or what we do. Let me explain… our job is to take the claims made by the author of any diet we review, and determine whether or not there is any sound science backing them up. In this case, there isn’t any. It’s not a case of “bad mouthing” the diet, it’s a case of reporting on the facts. We have no reason to favor/dislike this diet over any other… it’s just about the facts.

Secondly, despite your assertion, you apparently haven’t even bothered to read the review. If you had, you would have seen that we pointed that there are plenty of solid reasons why this diet may work for you. Any diet that replaces the typical high-fat, high carbohydrate North American with nutritious whole foods is going to make a difference. But it has exactly ZERO to do with eating according to your blood type.

Third, you seem to admit that “D’Adamo’s reasoning is off a bit.” Doesn’t it concern you just the slightest bit that there are people out there making claims for which there is no supporting evidence? If it doesn’t, you probably shouldn’t waste any more time on this web site.

What cracks me up is that most of the people that say that it worked ARE type O, DESPITE your paragraph about type O people. WOW. I think these people didn’t even read your article. Seriously… I am surprised they had the brain capacity to type comments that involved more than leetspeak, improper punctuation, bad spelling, etc…

Hah hah. Anyways, I AM going to try the diet myself, as a type B. Not because I think it makes sense in relation to blood type, but because it makes sense TO ME. Personally, peanuts always give me gas (dont ask me why) hummus and tomatoes give me hearburn (hummus has tahini and chickpeas, two things in the avoid list…)… I don’t know, I mean, I LOOOOOOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Hummus. And tomatoes. But they really do mess with me. And as far as bread and wheat goes, my mother actually has an allergy to gluten, and told me one of the signs of that is aching joint, almost like arthritis. I’m only 22 and I have been trying to get doctors to figure out what causes my arthritic style pain and… well, I guess my mom said it’s a sign of a gluten allergy.

Over all, just for my particular chemistry and body type, the diet recommended for type b blood types makes sense. But I do think that this …whatever his name is… is a total quack, after reading what he actually wrote. Some of it is on the whole… ridiculous…

Anyways, just wanted to let you know, We’re not ALL stupid and some of us read everything before making half cocked comments.

Keep doing what you do!

You can say what you want but for me, following D’Adamo’s eating guidelines produce the expected results; my body feels great, not sluggish, full, weighted down and I lose weight. Not sure what he’s tapped into but .. it works. According to his sales, I suspect it does for others as well. One thing is for sure, the majority of the populace will quickly abandon something that does not and I just don’t see that to be the case with this.

Anyway.. didn’t someone once say .. a man with an experience beats the one with an argument.

I suggest you give this a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Editor’s comments: Sigh. We give up. Really, who can argue with statements like “who’s to say your facts are any more reputable than Dr.D’Adamo’s?”

The point, Lee – had you actually READ the review you would have undoubtedly noticed this – is that D’Adamo doesn’t have any evidence upon which to base his theory. No published studies of any sort. Nothing even remotely resembling “facts.” Nien. Nyet. Nada. That’s precisely the argument. And we’re not the only ones who think so – READ the review, and see.

Additionally – again had you READ the review you would have noticed this – there are numerous reasons why the diet will work, but absolutely none of them have anything to do with your blood type. It’s largely because you’ve become selective about your food choices and are eating a largely whole foods diet.

The fact that the diet worked for you is not evidence that the “bood type theory of dieting” works (see above). And, remember… personal commentary is always anecdotal, and there’s always that pesky “placebo effect.”

Instead of accusing us of slander, why not do something useful; like post some links to the published clinical data or some credible scientific evidence that validate D’Adamo’s theories. Maybe, in the course of your research, you’ll discover the real purpose of this web site.

I lost 80 lbs in 2 years. I had to keep it gradual and slow, but it worked. I have been at my ideal weight of 155lbs for 6 years now. I feel better than I did before going on the diet and the energy, the way of thinking, etc has changed my life for the better. My grandmother who is type A, went on this diet and well, she had diabetes before and has been on it for 4 years now. She has pretty much cured her diabetes and is no longer taking any of her high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol meds. Shame on you!

Editor’s comments: Aaron, I can see you spent a LOT of time reading the review. If you did, you’ll see that it’s not just us who disagrees with D’Adamo theories, but plenty of “doctors” as well. Fact is, your positive experience is not a validation of D’Adamo theories – there are numerous reasons why his diet may have worked for you – all having nothing to do with your blood type. Like it or not, D’Adamo cannot present any credible evidence to support his “eat right for your blood type” theories.

Regarding your “doctor” comment. Wow. I already addressed this in the article, but you were obviously too busy preparing to share your opinion, rather than actually reviewing our article to see what the basis for our conclusions were. Here’s what I said about being a doctor…

“No, I am NOT a medical doctor, and neither, as a matter of fact, is D’Adamo. Secondly, using the prefix “Dr.” in front of your name does not allow you to make broad, sweeping generalizations, present statements that contradict established theories and practices and promote your own theories without providing one iota of supporting evidence. The onus is on D’Adamo to prove his theory is valid. I have simply pointed out the obvious: none of his theories have any supporting evidence, and there are plenty of credible qualified professionals who contest his conclusions.”