(19-07-13) Blood type diets lack supporting evidence: a systematic review1–3

Leila Cusack, Emmy De Buck, Veerle Compernolle, and Philippe Vandekerckhove
ABSTRACT
Background: Diets that are based on the ABO blood group system
have been promoted over the past decade and claim to improve
health and decrease risk of disease. To our knowledge, the evidence
to support the effectiveness of blood type diets has not previously
been assessed in the scientific literature.
Objective: In this current systematic review, published studies that
presented data related to blood type diets were identified and critically
appraised by using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment,
Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.
Design: A systematic search was performed to answer the following
question: In humans grouped according to blood type, does adherence
to a specific diet improve health and/or decrease risk of disease
compared with nonadherence to the diet? The Cochrane Library,
MEDLINE, and Embase were systematically searched by using
sensitive search strategies.
Results: Sixteen articles were identified from a total of 1415
screened references, with only one article that was considered eligible
according to the selection criteria. The identified article studied the
variation between LDL-cholesterol responses of different MNS blood
types to a low-fat diet. However, the study did not directly answer the
current question. No studies that showed the health effects of ABO
blood type diets were identified.
Conclusions: No evidence currently exists to validate the purported
health benefits of blood type diets. To validate these claims, studies are
required that compare the health outcomes between participants adhering
to a particular blood type diet (experimental group) and participants
continuing a standard diet (control group) within a particular blood type
population.

Source: Am J Clin Nutr 2013;98:99–104.

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