blood type research 2003 version

7/30/2019 Blood Type Research 2003 Version

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Chapter I

Introduction

The way our body reacts with any stimulus is determined by the information

found in our genes. The information not only dictates the way our body structures

are arranged and formed but also how these structures will function. The genetic

code also provides how one individual will differ from another person but also how

different he will be from the other individual. The difference could be very minute or

very great but still many points of similarities place one person into a class of

organisms which they share these similarities.

Blood type is one characteristic which is determined by our genetic code. It

places one in a group of individuals of the same type and it distinguishes him fromother persons with different blood types. It may even affect how one will react to

certain stimulus from his environment.

According to Dr. Peter D Adamo blood types is one of the medically

recognized variations as such that of fingerprint patterns and DNA analysis used

today to find out causes and cure for diseases. He said that using blood types in this

context will bring the science of genetics one step further wherein we used the

information in our genes in our understanding of how one human being is unique

not only in his structures but in his responses to the demands posed on him by the

environment. In his book entitled Eat Right for Your Type he stressed the influence

of blood type in determining the resistance of a person to disease as well as his

susceptibility because it reflects the genetic information which dictates his

responses to the demands imposed by the environment. He stressed the foods most

suitable for each blood types: type O benefits most from high protein low

carbohydrate diet, type A from high carbohydrate low fat diet, type B from dairy

products and can tolerate variations of foodstuffs, and type AB can tolerate most

foods which are not suited for type A or B.

There are many methods of analyzing blood types, the most common is the

ABO system based on the antigen found in the surface of the red blood cells of an

individual. This system was introduced by Karl Landsteiner in 1900 after his

discovery of the two red blood cell antigens A and B with which he formulated the

Landsteiner Rule: that one has no antibody for his own antigens and that he

produces antibodies for antigens he does not have. This precludes that one

produces antibodies to protect himself from the many antigen he is exposed to and

not to his self-antigens. In this ABO system an individual belongs to the type A if he

has antigen A in his red blood cells. If he is type B he has antigen B. If he has both

antigen A & B then he is type AB and if does not have any antigen he is type O.


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The heritability of blood types was discovered in 1903 wherein genes

carrying information for the production of antigen A and B are found in chromosome

number 9. An allele of these genes is inherited from one parent. The alleles of

antigen A and B are co-dominant meaning anytime one inherits an A or B allele then

it will always be expressed. The discovery found that O gene is actually recessive

and must be inherited from both parents to be expressed. The gene O carriesinformation for the allele of the H-antigen which is the precursor for either antigen A

or B. The transmission of traits on blood types follows this pattern of inheritance:

1. AA parent can pass A gene only.

2. AO parent can pass A or O genes.

3. BB parent can pass B gene only.

4. BO parent can pass B or O genes only.

5. OO parents can pass O gene only.

6. AB can pass A or B genes only.

Since blood types are determined by an individuals genetic make up, the

process by which it was transferred from one generation to another is as old as man

itself. In the journey of man from creation, his development and changes towards a

modern organism involved many evolutionary changes designed on one particular

objective survival.

According to a documentary entitled The Journey of Adam featured both in

the National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel human history started inAfrica about 40,000 B.C. The existence of the first humans was of isolation and

there is no stimulation for the production of protective mechanism. Their interaction

with the environment is limited to food gathering through hunting and day to day

survival. The only danger posed on them was being eaten by predator animals, both

large and small (worms and parasites). In this condition, anthropologist inferred that

the blood type predominantly was type O. The British National Blood Transfusion

Service stressed that type O mast have evolved first because all humans can

receive this type of blood without any reaction.

The theory that type O evolved first is even strengthened by an experiment

and research done by a group of researchers published in the journal of NatureBiotechnology in April 2007 that type A, B & AB can be converted to type O by using

a glycosidase enzyme from a certain bacteria to strip the red blood cells of the

antigen they carry.

As the number of humans grew, game for food became less abundant so the

early humans were forced to move around available space and began to discover

new foodstuffs. These evolving humans began to try eating available vegetations in


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addition to the dwindling supply of meat from animals around them. In response,

man evolved into a more domesticated existence and agriculture was born. This

was documented about 25,000 to 15,000 B.C. in Asia and the Middle East where

blood type A initially appeared. Although there were some evolutionary biologists

who theorized that type A might have evolved first followed by type O through the

deletion of a single nucleotide. Although this is consistent with the acceptedpatterns of early population movements and varying prevalent blood types in

different parts of the world, it is contradictory to earlier theory that type O evolved

first and which is more accepted by the scientific world.

As the journey of man continued, climate changed necessitating changes for

better survival the birth of type B blood documented to have developed between

10,000 and 15,000 B.C. in the heart of the Himalayas, India and Ural region of Asia.

These people have more balanced diet as compared to the first two human types.

As evolution endured, intermingling of cultures and tribes occurred, there

was amalgamation of the human characteristics, some of which made manstronger, some made him weaker. Anthropologist recorded the first appearance of

blood type AB about 1000 years A.D. among type A Caucasians and type B

Mongolians.

The evolution of blood types clearly showed the journey of man for survival.

His genes dictated the best way to respond to the ever changing world where he

lives. Many anthropologists believed that man his marker, his blood type

influences his functions, responses and ultimate distinction from the rest of the

living system but also to other human beings.

The usefulness of blood type analysis were then limited to the determinationof what type is appropriate for transfusion in cases where blood and blood products

are needed in the treatment of a particular illness until Del Nagro in 1998 in his

theory of Light and Dark based on his research where he found that some viruses

that infect human cell in the lungs and mucosal epithelium take along ABO blood

antigens from there then cause mutations and carry these changes to the second

recipients of the viruses to elicit a host response against non-self antigens. He

further theorized that there is communal immunity and that individuals in a

population make up the diversity of unique antigen moieties which keep the

population as a whole resistant to infections.

In the search for cure of many diseases it has been found out that certaindiseases are more common in a particular blood type than other types. Although no

conclusive evidence has been written, blood type influence on a persons reaction

to illness remains a frontier still to be discovered. This study explores the possibility

that blood type influences the food preferences of an individual which makes one

susceptible to a particular disease process.


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Research Problems

What is the distribution of ABO blood types among the employees of the

University of La Salette? What are the food preferences of the employees of the

University of La Salette? What are the prevailing diseases among the employees?

What is the relationship between the blood type of the employees, their foodpreferences and the prevailing diseases among them?

Research Objectives

1. To find out the distribution of the ABO blood types among the employees

of the University of La Salette.

2. To find out the food preferences of the employees.

3. To identify the prevailing diseases among the employees.

4. To find out the relationship between the blood type, the food preferences

and prevailing diseases.

Framework of Analysis

The study will use the concept of input-process-output system using the

profiles of the respondents, their blood types, food preferences and their personal

history of diseases and illness as well as in their family as the input. The process will

involve the analysis of the profile of the respondents, analysis of their blood types,

food preferences and their disease history and their family and the assessment of

the relationships of the three variables. The output will be the relationship of the

three variables with one another as to the influence of blood types with the food

preferences and the prevalence of a particular disease in the employees and their

families.

Relevance of the Study

This study seeks to stress the role of blood type in the determination of food

preference of an individual which will eventually influence his susceptibility to

certain diseases as found out in many foreign researches. This study will beconducted to find out if the results among foreign respondents are the same among

Filipinos wherein no parallel studies were done yet.

The results of the study will help the researcher in her practice of giving diet

recommendations to her patients which is a great part of treatment of patients.


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This will also help the University in determining the probable diseases that its

employees will suffer and thus will pave the way for better provisions of health

benefits.

The employees will also benefit from the results because it will give them

better insights of how to take care of their health and to give them better ideas ofpreventing diseases running in their families.

Scope and Limitations

This study focuses on the blood types, food preferences and prevalence of

diseases among the employees of the University of La Salette. The unit of analysis

for this study is at the University level. The variables will then be applied to the

bona fide employees thus an institutional study.

The applicability of the study is limited to the university thus any conclusionthat is drawn from this study may not hold true to other communities.

Hypotheses

The main assumption of this research is that blood type determines the food

preferences of an individual thus will determine the susceptibility of the person to

certain diseases.

In line with this, the hypotheses of this research are: 1.) blood type O are

usually carnivorous but are more resistant to cardiovascular diseases; 2.) blood type

A are usually vegetarians but are more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases; 3.)

blood type B are usually of varied diets and more resilient to cardiovascular

diseases than type O; 4.) blood AB are usually tolerant to newer diet regimens but

exhibit extreme responses to diseases either very resistant or very susceptible.

Definition of Terms

Allele forms of a single gene that control the same inherited trait located in the

same site in a homologous chromosome

Anthropologist a person studying man both as an animal and living in a society,

his origins, development, distribution, social habits and culture.

Antigen substances or materials not synthesized by the body thus are considered

non-self; these substances usually stimulate the production of antibody which has


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the ability to destroy the particular substance which leads to its production

(Microbiology for Health Sciences by G. Burton, Lippincot Williams & Wilkins, 2004).

Carnivorous individuals

Caucasians a race of white skinned people with prehistorical origin in regions

between the Black sea and the Caspian sea.

Chromosome a structure found in the nucleus of a cell containing deoxyribonucleic

acid or genetic material of a living organisms which often is duplicated and passed

through the offspring.

Diet the food or drink normally taken in a prescribed course of what is to be eaten

or not (Grolier Dictionary, 1992).

Dominant it is an allele which carries a trait which is always expressed whether in

a diploid or haploid number.

Evolution the gradual continuous changes from simple to complex forms in

response to environmental conditions by natural selections of randomly occurring

mutations (Grolier Encylopedia, 1997).

Gene a particular segment of the DNA molecule containing specific information

that codes for the production of certain protein responsible for a particular function

in the body (Microbiology for Health Sciences, 7th Edition, Lippincott, 2004).

Genotype the genetic make up of an organism which depends on the DNA

sequence of its genes (Principles of Anatomy & Physiology by Tortora, 10 th Edition,

John Wiley & Sons, 2003).

Heritability capacity to transfer a trait to the offspring

Immunity the freedom from any liability usually an illness (Websters Dictionary,

2000).

Immunoglobulin antibody; proteins produced by the immune systems to destroy

antigens.

Phenotype the observable expression of a genetic trait influenced by the

environment on its degree of expression.

Preference liking; first choice; favoring (Rogets Thesaurus)

Prevalence the number of cases of a disease existing in a given population during

a specific period or time (Microbiology for Health Sciences by G. Burton, 2004).

Susceptibility the lack of resistance to the damaging effects of an agent (Principles

of Anatomy & Physiology by Tortora, 2003).


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Tolerance ability to endure, withstand certain imposition or demand

Vegetarians individuals who prefer plant foods or foods derived from plant source

Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Dr. James DAdamo, a naturopathic physician in his book entitled One Mans

Food published in 1980 had condensed his observations of his patients who were

given certain dietary regimens for a particular disease that some improved, some

did poorly and some even worsened. He narrated that even though these patients

received the same type of treatment for the same disease, still there were

variations in the responses. He then tested his theory by testing the blood types of

his patients and made an individualized diet regimen based on observations ofindividualized reactions for each blood type. He was so surprised by the results that

his conviction that blood types influences a persons susceptibility to the disease

and body mechanisms for recovery.

The book published in 1997 Eat Right for Your Type by Dr. Peter J. DAdamo,

the son of Dr. James DAdamo discussed how he followed the research and study of

his fathers pursuit of the influence of blood types on disease. He went on to search


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for the scientific basis of his fathers observations. And this time, more conclusive

evidences were found no t only by the author but other researchers as well when

more diseases were found to be correlated with certain blood types.

In an article published in the British Medical Journal in 1954 about the

relationships of stomach cancer with the ABO groups by J.E. Aird found thatstomach cancer was linked to low levels of stomach acid production which was

more common among type A individuals. This study also found out that Pernicious

Anemia is also more common among type A individuals, a condition which

predispose a person to insufficient acid secretion since this anemia requires vitamin

B12 for absorption and this vitamin needs sufficient acid secretions in the stomach

for its absorption in the gastrointestinal tract.

In 1976, R.J.Garrison, R.J.Havlik, R.B.Harris et.al. made a study on ABO blood

groups and cardiovascular diseases which showed that there is significant

association between blood types with type O having the lowest rates of claudication

of arteries. Serum cholesterol was slightly higher among non-type O blood types.The study was published in November-December issue of Atherosclerosis.

A Russian article published in 1979 about an analysis of the distribution of

ABO system blood groups among patients with spinal osteochondrosis syndromes

showing regular influence of the genotype on the development of spinal

osteochondrosis and determines the mechanism of the immune response to this

disease with type O demonstrating the least frequency and type A with the highest

frequency of the disease. The study was done by M.S. Ritner, I.R.Shmidt et.al.

The relationship between the erythrocytic antigens of the ABO/Rh system and

cardiovascular pathology was studied by E.N.Meshalkin, G.N. Okuneva et.al. done inRussia and published in Kardiologiia in April 1981 and revealed that the prevalence

of type B gene and Rh+ phenotype is increased in patients with acquired heart

disease while type A Rh + showed more prevalent in patients with congenital,

acquired and ischemic heart disease.

Immunohistochemical study of blood group activities in the alimentary canal

in normal and pathologic conditions with reference to the nature of epithelial

mucopolysaccharides done by T.Oshima, H. Maeda, N.Tanaka & T. Nagano

published by the Department of Legal Medicine, Kanazawa University School of

Medicine, Japan in 1988 showed that the quantitative and qualitative changes in

blood group activities were closely associated with those of epithelialmucopolysaccharides and that ABO antigenic activities were located in the PAS

stainability of mucins and goblet cells of the alimentary canal.

The 1989 issue of the Folio of Parasitology published the research of H.Kumar

& S.Santhanam on Blood Groups and Filariasis showing the results of that filarial

infection has no blood group predilection.


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P.Bouree & G. Bonnot studied the relationships of ABO/Rh blood groups and

HLA antigen with parasitic diseases and published the research in June 1989 in the

Journal of Egyptian Society of Parasitology and showed that there are more

hookworm infestations among the type O groups, giardiasis in type A, Enatmoeba

coli among type B with type AB the most resistant to parasitism.

An article published in the Europian Journal of Clinical Microbiology and

Infectious Diseases in August 1989 titled Relationship Between Infectious Disease

and Human Blood Type, the research done by S.A.Berger, N.A. Young & S.C. Edberg

found that anthropological surveys suggests that geographic and racial human

blood groups reflects susceptibility of populations with specific blood types to the

plague, cholera, smallpox, malaria and other infectious diseases.

A.M.Zemskov, V.G. Perederil et.a l. studied the relationships of immunological

reactivity to blood groups showed the different pathological reactivity dependent

upon blood group on the content of population of lymphocytes, immunoglobulins

and grade of immunodeficiencies. This study was published in April 1990 in VrachDelo.

In June 1991, an article about oral contraceptives and antithrombin III:

variations by dosage and ABO blood group was published in the American Journal of

Obstetrics-Gynecology showing that there is larger decline in antithrombin III in type

O women using the highest dose estrogen preparation and for women who are non-

type O using the lowest progestin preparations.

An article published in the Journal of Egyptian Society of Parasitology in

December 1991 about the relationships of parasitic infection to blood groups in El

Minie Governorate, Egypt found that there is more giardia lambdia infestationamong type A and more E. coli cases among blood type B.

A research entitled Longitudinal Study of the Association between ABO

phenotype and total Serum Cholesterol Levels in a Japanese Cohort done by

F.L.Wong, K.Kodama, H.Sasaki et.al. published in the Genetics Epidemiology in 1992

found that type A maybe more predisposed to cardiovascular disease than other

blood types due to more elevated cholesterol levels as compared to other blood

types.

I.A.Akhund, I.A. Alvi et.al. of the Department of Physiology, Liaqat Medical

College in Jamshoro who studied the relationships of ABO blood groups withmyocardial infarction and angina pectoris published in October 2001 in their College

Journal found that there is direct relationships between blood group antigens and

coronary artery disease. The group stressed the existence of special genetic

makeup which influence the susceptibility of individuals to this kind of disease.

A study done by P. Suadicani, H.O.Hein & F. Gyntelberg of the

Epidemiological Research Unit, Clinic of Environmental and Occupational Medicine


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of Bispebejrg University Hospital, Copenhagen NV Denmark and published in

International Journal of London in June 2005 entitled Airborne Occupational

Exposure, ABO phenotype and risk of Obesity found that there were no significant

correlation between type O men and obesity but there is significant results in type

O men exposed long term to airborne pollutants to increased prevalence of obesity

especially those in asbestos, welding fumes and breath irritants.

A research done by A.I.Sharara, H.Abdul-Baki et.al. of the Department of

Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center published in

November 2006 about the association of gastrointestinal disease phenotype with

ABO blood groups and Helicobacter pylori virulence-specific serotypes found that

there was higher prevalence of type A patients with gastric malignancy and

infection with cytotoxin associated gene A-positive strains of blood.

T.Abo, T.Kawamura et.al. of the Department of Immunology, Niagata

University School of Medicine, Niagata, Japan studied the relationship between

diseases accompanied by tissue destruction and granulocytes with surfaceadrenergic receptors in 2007 published in the Immunological Reviews found that

the key factor connecting to tissue destructions are determined by the antigenic

surface receptors found in the blood cells.

The relationship of Helicobacter pylori positivity with age, sex, and ABO/Rh

blood groups in patients with gastrointestinal complaints in Turkey, a research done

by T.Seyda, C. Deyra, A.Fuson & K.Meliha publisehed jn June 2007 at Ankara

Research and Training Hospital, Ankara, Turkey showed that there is no

relationships with infections of H. pylori to age, sex and ABO/Rh blood groups.

There were numerous studies and researches done showing the correlation ofthe ABO blood group system and a particular disease as well as the immunological

reactions. All of the studies reviewed were done by foreign authors. Results were

leaning towards the influence of blood groups on susceptibility of an individual to

disease.

Extensive search was done to find out any study done locally on the influence

or relationship of the ABO blood group with any variable such as disease

susceptibility, immunity or behavior but none has been found up to this point in

time.

Chapter III


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METHODOLOGY

Research Method

The descriptive normative method is used with the survey questionnaire asthe tool for data gathering. There are no other inclusion criteria except being

employee of the University.

The questionnaire was patterned from the survey questionnaire of Dr. Peter

DAdamo in his study of diet regimens designed for each blood type of his patients.

The questionnaire was modified to suit the present study.

Blood typing will be done through the University Diagnostic Laboratory and

recorded as part of the health record of the employee.

The survey and blood typing will be done during one of the employeesgeneral assembly to ensure 100% participation and retrieval of the questionnaire.

To strengthen the data gathering for the research, a random unstructured

interview will be done at random among the employees to collect more information

concerning the three variables.

Data Analysis Plan

Data gathered will be treated and will be analyzed through the use of

frequency, percentage, z-test and the chi-square to determine the relationshipbetween the three variables.

Tables and graphs will be used to show more clearly the relationships of the

variables being studied. This will also show comparison between the four blood

types and their relationship to the other two variables of food preferences and

diseases.

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