# Blood type+Longevity Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2001, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484 "2001-06-12T02:11:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/1 "2001-06-12T02:11:16Z")
Is there any evidence that blood type has any bearing on longevity or heightened immunity? Also, is there a certain diet that benefits one blood type as opposed to another? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/2 "2001-06-12T02:13:54Z")
I can’t give a definitive answer, but I’d be very very surprised to hear that blood type made the slightest difference in any aspect of one’s life, besides transfusions, viral susceptibility, and such. Molecularly, the only difference between blood types is exactly which sugars are linked together on the outside of your blood cells. Has nothing to do with metabolism. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/3 "2001-06-12T03:13:23Z")
There is pretty good evidence that some blood types are associated with increased risks for stomach cancer and stomach ulcers. There is also evidence, albeit not as clear, that certain blood types are also associated with chronic lung disease and other cancers too. I believe, but am not certain, that the mechanism for blood group A (as well as other less important and well known blood groups) being associated with stomach ulcers and stomach cancer has to do with the fact that _H. pylori_, a bacteria that _does_ lead to stomach ulcers and cancers, attaches more readily to cells expressing such antigens. Can anyone else elaborate? Blood types may have had an important historical or evolutionary role with respect to infections. For example certain second line blood types (i.e. things like the Duffy and Kell systems but _not_, afaik, the ABO systems), are linked to the risk of acquiring malaria, dysentery, and other infections. ---
**Author:** ![clf99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8797f3/32.png) [@clf99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clf99)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/4 "2012-01-24T02:58:39Z")
[http://www.waytogonutrition.com/images/Blood%20Type%20Percentages%20in%20the%20Gen%20Pop.pdf](http://www.waytogonutrition.com/images/Blood%20Type%20Percentages%20in%20the%20Gen%20Pop.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/5 "2012-01-24T03:08:06Z")
There is a book written by Dr. Peter J.D. Adamo who writes about certain diets that benefit people of different blood types. It is called EAT RIGHT FOR YOUR TYPE, but I am not sure if this is based on great research. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/6 "2012-01-24T04:10:53Z")
> [@clf99](#): > > [http://www.waytogonutrition.com/images/Blood%20Type%20Percentages%20in%20the%20Gen%20Pop.pdf](http://www.waytogonutrition.com/images/Blood%20Type%20Percentages%20in%20the%20Gen%20Pop.pdf) The average age of the O sample is over 78, which is the highest of all the samples. So it seems to make sense that the average age at death will be higher, too. I wonder why his samples weren’t around the same age. Unless I’m reading this incorrectly, it seems to make no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/7 "2012-01-24T04:20:43Z")
> [@florez](#): > > There is a book written by Dr. Peter J.D. Adamo who writes about certain diets that benefit people of different blood types. It is called EAT RIGHT FOR YOUR TYPE, but I am not sure if this is based on great research. This particular bit of quackery started in Japan in the 1980s and spread to America with [You Are Your Blood Type, by Toshitaka Nomi and Alexander Besher](http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Blood-Type/dp/0671633422). Nutjob medicine has an incredibly long, deep, and deadly history, so this is piddling by comparison. But it’s a lovely example of first class idiocy that other idiots buy into. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/8 "2012-01-24T08:39:09Z")
No, it didn’t start in the 1980s. It is an Ancient Japanese Secret! From the nineteen **seventies**! And [according to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_blood_type_theory_of_personality) (grain of salt, etc.), it followed more non-peer reviewed, non-experimental work, usually aimed to show racial inferiority in certain populations. :eek: ETA: This is the non-diet stuff at first, trying to show personality. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/9 "2012-01-24T09:02:22Z")
Blood type can have a definitive outcome on longevity providing that, after an accident, you have the type where the majority remains within your body. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/10 "2012-01-24T09:11:33Z")
Seriously, though, I wonder whether people with Type AB (universal receiver) live longer, statistically speaking, than people with Type O (universal donor), due to the greater availability of blood for transfusions. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/11 "2012-01-24T18:21:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Seriously, though, I wonder whether people with Type AB (universal receiver) live longer, statistically speaking, than people with Type O (universal donor), due to the greater availability of blood for transfusions. But that order is switched when you involve plasma transfusions. Also O+ isn’t exactly rare throughout the world (36%, O- is a bit rarer at 4.33%) so it isn’t like there is a shortage, right? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/12 "2012-01-25T19:00:44Z")
I was once told that ambulances usually have 0- blood (universal donor) on hand so that they don’t have to waste time typing someone who may bleed out. Since I am 0- myself I took solace in that, whether it’s true or not. ---
**Author:** ![benbo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/13 "2012-01-31T10:44:34Z")
Is there final verdict on this hypothesis? Has Adamo been conclusively disproven? I would think different types would men different clotting characteristics, so for example B+ would be more likely to clot which by necessity yields higher likelihood for heart disease/attack. So have their been any respectable studies to affirm or disprove the suitability of certain foods to large-scale studies by blood type? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-type-longevity-question/68484/14 "2012-01-31T21:08:52Z")
Blood type has nothing whatsoever to do with clotting ability. It really has no impact at all on overall human health in any measurable way. I cannot imagine that transfusions - let alone mistyped transfusions - are common enough to impact statistical measurements above the background noise.