Weight loss: "blood group" diet would be ineffective

10-12-2020 by Mirai

Dieting according to your blood type has no beneficial effect on weight loss, according to a new scientific study. In fact, all blood groups have an interest in adopting a plant-based diet to lose weight.

We can no longer count the number of diets that promote guaranteed, rapid and long-lasting weight loss. One of them, the blood group diet, consists of changing the content of the plate according to the blood type to lose weight: people in group A are encouraged to eat more plant-based foods, while a diet rich in meat is recommended for people in group O.

Published December 4 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a new study demystifies this diet and shows that blood type has nothing to do with the benefits seen when we eat more plant-based foods.

This study was conducted using data from other papers published in the JAMA Network Open on November 30. 3,115 overweight people with no history of diabetes were randomly assigned to two groups, one consisting of a low-fat vegan diet for 16 weeks, while the other, the control group, did not undergo any dietary changes. Experience showed that the vegan diet boosted the metabolism of the participants, with an increase in calorie consumption after meals of 18.7% on average for the group affiliated with the vegan diet compared to the control group.

After collecting data on the blood types of the vegan diet participants, the researchers found that blood type made no difference in weight loss, blood lipid levels, and blood sugar levels. In other words, people of blood group A did not benefit more from this diet than those of group O, contrary to what the "blood group diet" suggests.

"While the blood group-based diet says that a plant-based diet should be better for blood group A and less good for blood group O, it has been shown to be beneficial for all people regardless of their blood type , and there was no evidence that meat diets are good for everyone, "said Neal Barnard, lead author of the study and chair of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

"Our research shows that all blood groups benefit from a diet based on the consumption of fruits and vegetables, legumes and whole grains, when specifically looking at weight loss and cardiometabolic health in overweight adults," the researcher concluded.