A protein substance commonly found in foods that binds with glycoproteins and glycolipids on the surface of animal cells causing agglutination.

Some lectins cause agglutination of erythrocytes in specific blood groups. (medical dictionary definition). Lectins also play a significant role in hormonal reactions. In lay language, this translates to very tiny molecules found in foods that selectively cause blood and other body tissues to stick together.

A lectin that causes the tissues of a person of one blood type to stick together will not necessarily have the same effect on a person of a different blood type.

1. The food does not agglutinate that blood type.

2. The food does not raise the Urinary Indican (bowel toxicity) in that blood type.

3. The food protects against some disease with a known preference for that blood type, and does not show any negative aspects.

4. The immunological design of the digestive tract seems to indicate a distinct ability to metabolize the food well, perhaps as a result of anthropology or other variations. The food contains an enzyme known to react positively with the antigen of that blood type.

5. The food does not stimulate an opposing blood group antibody reaction.

1. The food has a lectin or other property that reacts adversely with the blood type.

2. Relative acid/alkaline balance as required to digest the food is not compatible.

3. High probability of parasite/mold populations.

4. Causes a rise in urine Indican levels (indicating bowel toxicity).

There are two methods of getting started.

For the ‘Cold Turkey’ method, throw out or give away avoid foods and replace them immediately with neutral/beneficial foods.

The other choice is to eat your stocked avoids and phase them out by replacing with neutral/beneficial foods.

1. If you are recovering from an illness or desire weight loss, then 80%-100% of your food choices should be highly beneficial.

2. If you are a healthy individual over the age of 55, 80% of foods should be beneficial.

3. If you are under 55 and healthy, 70% or more of your food choices should beneficial.

4. The remainder of your food choices should be neutral. Avoids should not be eaten.

NO !  Many medications are addictive and/or have delayed effects.  Do not stop without consulting the prescribing physician or other knowledgeable practitioner.

1. This will require some discernment on your part.

2. An herb is generally considered an avoid for a blood type due to particular negative metabolic reactions that may be induced by the herb or indirectly induced as a side effect. If possible, attempt to locate a similarly functioning herb with similar benefits.

3. Generally, a supplement is considered an avoid because it is bountiful in a well rounded, fresh food based diet for your blood type. Additional supplementation could be considered toxic.

However, if you have a diagnosed deficiency of the substance, or a medical condition shown to benefit by supplementation, then the supplement may be taken. It is always wise to consult a nutritionally knowledgeable person who can monitor your health in this situation.

Organic produce, organic dairy and free range meats are recommended. Genetically altered foods (which includes virtually all non-organic soy beans), hydrogenated oils (margarine), partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, colors, aromas, and flavors should be avoided.

Smoked and fried foods are not recommended. Oils should be purchased and stored in light-proof containers, preferably refrigerated after opening. White flour and sugars should be eaten rarely, if at all. MSG should not be used.

Avoid aluminum cookery (it can contaminate your food with aluminum) and microwaves (they change the molecular structure of foods in unknown ways) for heating foods.

The exercise recommendations are focused on improving total systemic health, mainly the functioning of the organs, glands, immune and circulatory systems of the body; as opposed to building muscle tissue (which can be viewed as a pleasant side effect).

What strenuous exercise does for type O, yoga does for type A, and aerobic exercise does for type B and AB. Exercise recommendations are made with a general bias toward a person with a sedentary lifestyle. The link between blood type, stress and exercise is discussed in Live Right 4 Your Type.

If, after three to six months of eating right for your type, you are not healthier or losing weight, there are several options to explore:

1. If you are Type A or AB, you may be one of the less common subtypes of those types. There are subtle differences in the diets, mostly relating to amounts and proportions of foods. There is little data currently available, but it may be of benefit to get one of the refined blood tests currently available. Please contact the Foundation if you would like further assistance and would consider being participant in a study.

Keep a detailed food log noting everything that you ingest and all symptoms of illness as you notice them. It is possible that you are eating hidden avoids or have an immunological sensitivity (allergy) to a particular food that is supposed to be beneficial for you. You may consider an IgG food allergy test, even though these tests have a very high rate of error. You may wish to explore other systems of eating.

2. The key is to realize that if you are not getting healthier, then you should accept responsibility, and be willing to change something about your lifestyle to continue the facilitation of your healing.

3. Fortunately, result outcomes indicate that the program is effective in about 9/10 individuals. Pretty good odds!

Soy is a good food if you are type A. By this it is meant that soy will not make you FEEL good if you are type A. Some of the good things soy is doing may, in fact, make you feel not so great after you eat it, but it is good for you nonetheless. Here it is the effect of soy lectin on the blood and immune system. These uncomfortable reactions are usually temporary. Making sense of the recent controversial articles about soy, phytates, aromatase and minerals:

1. Phytates are in soy.

2. Humans secrete phytase (and occasionally consume it), which is an enzyme responsible for the breakdown of phytic acid. Some animals, namely rats, have close to none of this enzyme. This means that in humans it won't bind the minerals no where near as much as rats. Phytates are converted to inositol, and phosphate in the human body which has other beneficial effects. Most "tests" are done on rats [and are not applicable to humans]. Phytic acid protects against the two biggest cancer killers in men and women, namely breast, and prostatic cancer.

3. The relatively low methionine levels in some phytochemicals such as soy, limit the synthesis of polyamines necessary for tumor growth. Methionine is problematic for type A's in other areas as well: it is linked to elevated levels of homocysteine, a significant risk factor for artery disease.

4. Genistein and daidzein, the major phytoestrogens in soy are themselves 'aromatase inhibitors. This is true of many isoflavones. Aromatase is an enzyme which converts androgens to estrogens. Aromatase is located in estrogen-producing cells including ovaries, placenta, testicular Sertoli and Leydig cells, adipose, and brain tissues. Aromatase inhibitors are increasingly the drug of choice for managing metastatic breast cancers which have retained estrogen sensitivity.

5. High levels of the enzyme aromatase stimulate estrogen sensitive cancers. The isoflavones (phytoestrogens) in soy inhibit aromatase. Another potential problem with soy is that of genetic manipulation. An ever increasing amount of soy planted in the United States has been genetically altered. 6. In addition, many commercial varieties of soy have been manipulated to increase the fat and protein content of the bean. The long term results of these manipulations are unknown, and wait to be seen. In general, organic soy has not been altered or manipulated, and products made from organic soy should be the soy of choice.

I am aware that many practitioners use food combining as part of their dietary recommendations. I do not, simply because the blood type diets do specifically what food combining attempts to do non-specifically.

Proponents of food combining claim that correct food combinations are important for proper digestion, utilization, and assimilation of the nutrients our body needs to sustain life. Different foods require different digestive enzymes to aid in the digestive process - some acid, some alkaline. When acid and alkaline foods come in contact, they neutralize each other and retard digestion. If the food we eat is not properly digested, it will pass through the intestinal tract without being completely broken down, getting stuck between the crevices located in the intestinal track - thereby causing the toxic wastes to ferment and putrefy.

Critics claim that there's no evidence to support such contentions. Nearly all foods are themselves combinations. If you eat beans, for example, you're getting carbohydrates (sugars and starches), protein and fiber, among other things. Bread combines protein, carbohydrates, a little fat and many other things. A simple dish like macaroni and cheese, a peanut butter sandwich, or oatmeal with milk contains sugars, starches, protein and fat. Our digestive system handles food combinations very efficiently. The process begins in the mouth as we chew food and saliva acts upon it, beginning the breakdown of starches into sugars. Other enzymes come into play along the line, resulting in almost complete digestion and absorption of nutrients, no matter how they are combined.

This association is so ingrained in the belief systems of some individuals that to even suggest appropriate consumption of animal products might actually enhance some individuals health places me somewhere between 'public enemy number I' and the devil in the eyes of several of my critics.

I have even had some individuals within my own profession suggest that I had abandoned the core of naturopathic medicine by advocating good quality meat for individuals of certain blood types. Often a good question to ask is, 'what does the evidence show?' Naturopathic medicine developed from the water cure movement of Europe. Theodor Hahn is credited as being the first of the pioneers of this water cure movement to integrate vegetarian dietetic principles. He was convinced that a meat-free diet would prolong life. In fact he was so convinced of the value of a vegetarian diet that he spent a great deal of his professional life writing books and pamphlets on the subject and was the editor of a magazine called 'The Vegetarian'. He died of colon cancer at the age of 59.

Wheat as we know it in the millennia of this era is not the same as it was at the very beginning. The genetics of wheat show that its development is very complex.

Today grain has developed from three naturally occurring groups of wheat. Through natural crossings, mutations, and natural selection these have evolved into all the many varieties of wheat grown worldwide. In essence, the 'hard wheat' that we eat nowadays has a protein content as high as 13%, versus the more ancient wheats which had a protein content of, at most, about 2%. Increasing the protein content has had the effect of making wheat a viable source of protein for many people around the world, but has also increased the allergenic (gliandin, gluten and lectin containing), pro-inflammatory and metabolic-blocking portions of the plant almost seven-fold.

Aside from the under-investigated metabolic effects of wheat lectin, classic hypersensitivity to wheat is found in many infants and adults. Reactions are often localised in the GI tract. In a study of asthmatic patients, 46% (children) and 34% (adults) were found to have IgE to wheat as tested by Pharmacia & Upjohn, Diagnostics CAP System. In another study, specificity for wheat allergen using the same system was 98%.

Wheat allergy was found to cause a persistent food hypersensitivity in atopic dermatitis patients (75% remained intolerant). In 102 grass-pollen allergic children, 12% were found to be allergic to wheat.