Is the Blood Type Diet legit?

The Blood Type Diet originated from Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo's book called "Eat Right For Your Type." Since its release, it has gained traction in the Complimentary and Alternative Medicine space, where it claims that eating according to your blood type will give you "the key that unlocks the mysteries of disease, longevity, fitness, and emotional strength."

But does it have any evidence to support its claims to health?

A systematic review done in 2013 by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that the Blood Type Diet, A popular diet which guides people to "eat for their blood type" has no evidence to support its claims. Another study involving 1455 people concluded that

"Our findings show that adherence to certain ‘Blood-Type’ diets is associated with a favorable profile for certain cardiometabolic risk factors in young adults, but these associations were not related to an individual's ABO blood group."

This bothers me because, for example, we have one person spreading the word about the diet. It has 87k likes, and has been seen by a huge amount of people who may not know better. The problem is that it includes and excludes certain foods, and creates fear-mongering.

People who don't know any better might place their full faith into it, and possibly create disordered eating behaviors and nutritional deficiencies. This is why building positive eating habits and not demonizing food is a key in healthy eating habits.

The takeaway here is to do your research before diving too deep into these fad diets. Nutrition doesn't have to be complicated or concrete, and you can enjoy the foods you like and still be in good health.

References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23697707/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893150/

Quote from book- Eat Right For Your Type (Revised and Updated)