INTRODUCTION

Many people in the world have never thought about knowing their blood group until there is a need for transfusion of blood at the time of emergency. Professor Dr. Sarfraz Hussain says that the life which we are spending without knowing our blood group is miserable. In the modern world knowing your blood group is such a strong bio-marker that it is considered in all fields of life. In Japan people do not hesitate to ask blood group to judge compatibility of their partner or at the time of interview for a job even people ask about blood group before dating or meeting someone for very first time. So it is a norm to ask “What is your blood group?” [1] or in an advertisement for a job, it is written that people with blood group “O” are encouraged to apply instead of saying “Women are encouraged to apply”. The hospitals in Pakistan are full of patients suffering from numerous diseases, spending their earnings of life on medical treatment within few days. Peter D’Adamo and Dr Lam have worked a lot on blood group specific diet and have published many books as “Eat right 4 your Type”. Millions of these books are sold but with many controversial opposing thoughts. Diet is very important for living a healthy life. God has produced no any junk food but to a specific food we call a junk food is best food for one blood group. It is highly important to know about specific diet of your blood group type. The food guide pyramids are designed to guide the consumers about various food groups and how much to eat from each group to remain healthy. The shape of these pyramids were correlated to accommodate groups of foods used in daily life by putting these groups in chambers and specifying the area according to the demand of foods falling in these groups. These pyramids present in Egypt are considered to be having treasures buried in them. Similarly food is also a treasure for life and can be found on these triangles. The first Food Pyramid was published in Sweden in 1974. Graphic representation of the food groups was made in the beginning of 1988. Food Guide Pyramid was finally released in 1992 by USDA, further updating was made in 2005and replaced in 2011.

International scientific community criticized food guide pyramid released by USDA, saying that “The current food pyramids are not working properly” and the recommendations are nutritionally and biochemically unsound and also not applicable universally, hence needs to be revised [2]. These pyramids are still being used by nutritionists to guide about the nutrition in many countries without any positive effect. So called balanced diet does not remain balanced once entered in to the body due to conflicting “lectins”. Scientists said that one man’s diet is other man’s poison [3]. This is due to the reason of presence of variable lectins in all foods. These lectins are a type of protein present indifferent foods which react with blood cells and binds to sugars causing agglutination in blood [4].

Harvard scientist Dr. Stampfer and Dr. Willett [5], criticising on USDA pyramid saying that it is not up-to-date with current nutritional research stating following faults in food pyramid:

1.       All fats are bad.

2.       All complex carbohydrates are good.

3.       Protein is protein.

4.       Dairy products are essential.

No guidance on weight, exercise, alcohol, vitamins and minerals provided [5,6].

No considerations are made for change in climatic conditions, which cause variation and availability of seasonal fruits and vegetables to combat emerging diseases [7].

Blood group data is not very common and also not easily available due to many social and ethnic reasons.

Blood group “B” is dominant in the Himalayas, in the region of today’s Pakistan and India [4,8]. In Pakistan these blood groups are present in the proportions as “B” 36%, “O” 33%, “A” 21% and “AB” 9%. In Pakistan the most common blood group is “B” which has liver as target organ and is very much prone to hepatitis. It is still to be exploring that what genetic factors cause some specific tissues and organs to function dominantly in one blood group, there may be many besides blood group of that individual. Blood group is perhaps most important factor which may also be considered to re-evaluate BMI of the population of the world if it has any significance to determine calorific values and diet. Re-evaluation may be made according to the blood groups prevailing in the world for accurate setting of cut of values. Because blood group individuals have many similar diet choices where ever living in the world. Pakistan is number one in hepatitis due to this blood group. Prof Dr Sarfraz Hussain working at Institute of Food Science & Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Pakistan has taken up the challenge and explored through studies on blood group related diet to remain healthy and prevent diseases. He has made a breakthrough in nutrition science by developing a world’s first ultimate diet pyramid based on blood group diet targeting four types of tissues [9-12]. His diet pyramid has been appreciated by relevant health workers in the modern world but most of others are still unable to understand the significance and about the working of this diet pyramid in nutritional health. This diet pyramid tells exact diet according to blood group and their tissues where ever the individuals may believe in the world. This pyramid needs to be filled as patent (Figure 1).

He explains that there are four major types of blood groups, tissues and their diet is entirely different from each other. Hippocrates (450 BCE to 380 BCE) said that “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.

Some people believe that diet cannot control diseases, but Dr. Sarfraz Hussain is of the opinion that taking wrong diet causes serious illness and diet according to blood groups is the only way to remain healthy. When the human are healthy, they rely 100% on diet but when fell ill still remains 50% on diet, 25% on medicine and 25% on environment and psychology. God has mentioned about some fruits in Holy Quran as Fig (Dry and Cold) and Olives (Wet and Hot) (Surah Watteen-Aya #1-4), Dates (Hot and Wet) and Pomegranate (Cold and Dry) (surah Al-Bakra-Aya #266). These fruits have highly different nutritional (on the basis of food analysis) and temperamental differences and cannot be suitably given to each four different blood group type individuals. It is very much clear that what so ever we take targets mainly our tissues and are most suitable to our blood group temperaments (O-bloody, A-Phlegmatic, B-Yellow bile and AB-Black bile) (Table 1and Figure 2).

Medical Science has reported that there are four types of tissues signifying relationship to four blood group type individuals, viz. A-Nervous tissues, B-Epithelial tissues, AB-Connective tissue sand O-Muscular tissues. Similarly these well-developed tissues variably in each blood group need specific diet to keep the individuals healthy. The present balanced diet and nutrition is based on calories recommendation and not according to the tissue requirements. Balanced diet and nutrition is actually based on presence of various simpler sugars, acids, amino acids, carbohydrates and fatty acids required variably by different tissues. Four types of tissues mentioned as above have different requirements for proper functioning of these tissues.

Glucose is the simplest sugar required by epithelial tissues and all such foods which have higher glucose sugars are highly suitable for blood group “B” people. While high fructose present in honey, dates and grapes is highly suitable for blood group “O” people.

Mouth is the gate way of nutrition having taste buds on tongue. There are four taste buds present on our tongue (Figure 3).

First one is sweet, second to that is salty; third one is tart and fourth present at the last part of our tongue signifying bitter and astringent taste. These foods are liked by our taste buds, which later on become balanced diet and nutrition for that specific person. The current balanced diet and nutrition is based on composition of foods but a food having high nutritional value if not selected by a specific taste bud of an individual will not provide any nutrition to that person. These four blood group individuals also have well developed separate taste buds and specific pronounced functional tissues formed through genetic make-up and blood group. Individual shaving blood group “A” has nervous tissues as target tissues, for “B” people, it is epithelial and for “AB” and “O” types, it is connective and muscular tissues, respectively. These people like similar foods which are required by their relevant well developed tissues. Specific taste buds also are responsible for development and curing different diseases. Not all diseases develop in all individuals. Specific blood group individuals may have specific diseases. These facts are supported by scientific studies.

Prevalence of diseases such as coeliac disease, autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, cardiovascular disease and insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, suggests that some dietary factor specific to plant foods could initiate these diseases.

Of the food lectins, grain/cereal lectins, dairy lectins and legume lectins are the most common ones associated with aggravation of inflammatory and digestive diseases in the body and improvement of these diseases and/or symptoms when avoided.

Lectins serve as a vehicle to allow foreign proteins to invade our natural gut defence and cause damage, commonly in joints, brain, skin and various body glands.

Continued exposure of the gut by these unwelcomed food lectins create a persistent stimulation of the body’s defence mechanism in a dysfunctional manner, which manifests as an autoimmune disease. If the lectins in diet are causative in initiating all these diseases, it should be possible to identify the responsible constituents and modify or remove them so as to make the diet healthier [13].

While some Greek medicine practitioners also classified diseases on the basis of temperament of individuals but Dr. Sarfraz Hussain carefully correlated these diseases with blood groups and investigated suitable diets to cure these diseases on the basis of tissues. He affirmed that temperament and blood group studies are very similar and these diseases can be cured with diet of opposite temperament.

He says that present balanced diet and nutrition is not working properly and he also intend to modify the definition of current balanced diet and nutrition as “It is an in-built capacity of mind of a person having a particular blood group type (A, B, AB and O) which is based on specific taste buds to select a particular food which ultimately becomes source of balanced diet and nutrition for her/him. However, this ability is independent of age, sex and sanity. A food having high nutrition (based on food analyses) if not selected by taste buds of that individual will not provide any nutrition to that individual commonly known as likes and dislikes. Foods consumed on these bases when entered in to the GI tract do not provide same nutrition as affected by many internal factors. As enzymes, lectins and micro-organisms present in GI tract. There are well defined differences in types of macrobiotic GI tract of four blood group individuals which need specific pH and acidity, sugars, amino acids, carbohydrates and fatty acids. God has gifted our food according to the changing season but just opposite to the seasons to save us from changing season and cure diseases.

Novel findings indicated that the ABO blood group is one of the genetically determined host factors modulating the composition of the human intestinal microbiota, thus enabling new applications in the field of personalized nutrition and medicine.

Research work carried out at Harvard School of Public Health shows that there is a strong correlation between blood group and heart diseases. Findings were based on two large US analytical studies in which 62,073 women from nurses and 27,428 subjects from health profession were studied between the age of 30 and 75 years and followed for 20 years. The work was published in an American Heart Association Journal. It was claimed that blood group “AB” individuals were more vulnerable to heart attack and people having blood group “O” were 20% more resistant to heart disease based on lifestyle and diet [14]. Dr. Sarfraz Hussain also strongly agrees with the findings of this study due to its large number of subjects and duration of the study. But one of his most strong evidence is that the “AB” people have well developed connective tissues commonly known as bones and these bones are the coldest part and bad conductor of heat and result in low blood circulation in the body and due to having both antigens (antigen-A and antigen-B) also need extra calcium for the health of bones.

Atherosclerosis, thrombosis prevails in blood group “AB”. Additional doze of calcium is recommended to “AB” people [15]. These results were also confirmed by the studies conducted by Akram and Hussain [16]. These people face clotting of blood in legs and suffer heart failure. Parents having blood group “A” and “B” should avoid marriages so that formation of blood group “AB” in children can be avoided (Figure 4).

It is essential to know the exact diet of “AB” to avoid complications and blockage of arteries. Having stents can also be avoidably strictly following the diet of “AB” designed by Dr. Sarfaz Hussain.

In Pakistan blood group distribution is shown in map, which is highest “B” in the grey color (25-30%) (Figure 5).

Pakistanis at high risk of Hepatitis due to high prevalence of blood group “B” due to the reason of liver being target organ in this blood group. These people need highest doze of iron through diet designed by Prof. Dr. Sarfraz Hussain. He has also categorized many diseases in to various categories according to temperaments and blood groups. His findings can be much helpful in saving money, avoiding wrong diagnosis and proper curing of diseases. Dr. Sarfraz also intends to serve the nation to combat diseases and reduce malnutrition in Pakistan and in the world by diagnosing appropriate diet according to the blood groups and their tissues. He has treated many complicated cases through recommending diet and have published peer reviewed research papers [11,12]. He is of the opinion that BMI should be re-evaluated on the basis of prevalence of blood groups in a country and new real cut-off values for BMI of four blood groups in the world should be found [17]. Iron fortification of flour is the real need for people having blood group “B” [18] and iodine fortification in salt is really needed for thyroid gland and may use turmeric as natural source but avoid cucumber, cabbage and cauliflower. These vegetables will bind iodine and in the same manner all foods are selective for all four blood groups. Iodine is needed mostly by blood group “O” [19]; otherwise overload in rest of blood groups is dangerous. People having blood group “O” deficient in Iodine may suffer from stunted growth. But other blood groups may not show any significant stunted growth. Group “O” need Iodine for proper functioning of thyroid gland. Many food technologists are working as nutritionists and dieticians in the modern world. But in Pakistan these people having good knowledge about food are not being registered as nutritionists.  

1.       Buerk R (2010) Dating by blood type in Japan. BBC News, Tokyo, Japan.

2.       Anonymous (2008) Defective food pyramid. Retrieved from: http://cavewomanrunner.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/defective-food-pyramid/

3.       James LDA, Richards A (1994) One man’s food is someone else’s poison. 7^th Edn. Health through herbs Inc. 186 st. George Street, Toronto, Canada M5R 2N3.

4.       Peter JDA, Catherine W (2000) Live right 4 your type-4 blood types, 4-programmes for a healthy life. Distributors Stack theme Ltd., 59 Bridge Street, Dollar, FK 147DQ, Scotland.

5.       Walter CW, Stampfer MJ (2006) Rebuilding the food pyramid. Sci Am 16: 12-21.

6.       Hargrove T (2012) Harvard nutritionist says USDA food pyramid’ is wrong. Retrieved from: http://www.rense.com/general12/wrong.htm

7.       Faiz MF (2002) Quliat-e-Tib-e-Islami (Keys to Islamic way of Healing) (In Urdu). Faiz UlHikmat, Islamia College^® 54-stop, Street No. 1, Yasir Ghafar Town, Okara, Pakistan.

8.       Ali N (2005) Frequency of ABO and Rh blood groups in major ethnic groups and casts of Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci 21: 26-29.

9.       Hussain S (2014) Ultimate diet pyramid based on blood groups. Presented in International Conference & Expo, Conference Session, Clinical & Therapeutic Nutrition, Recent Developments in Human Nutrition Lahore 2014: 78-79.

10.    Hussain S, Rashid F, Zahra SM, Nasir MU, Raique A (2016) Blood group diet research is the key to get precise results to improve human health. Res Rev J Food Dairy Technol, e-ISSN: 2321-6204, p-ISSN: 2347-2359.

11.    Hussain S, Raza Q, Zahra SM, Fatima I, Rashid F (2017) Effect of blood group diet on infertility in ABO blood groups. Res Rev J Food Dairy Technol, e-ISSN: 2321-6204, p-ISSN: 2347-2359.

12.    Hussain S, Raza Q, Fatima I, Zahra SM, Rashid F (2017) Obesity is an eating disorder causing many diseases. Nutr Food Toxicol 1: 154-159.

13.    Hamid R, Masood A (2009) Dietary lectins as disease causing toxicants. Department of Biochemistry, University of Kashmir, Srinagar-190006, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Pak J Nutr 8: 293-303.

14.    He M, Brian W, Kathy R, Jo Ann EM, Eric R, et al. (2012) ABO blood group and risk of coronary heart disease in two prospective cohort studies. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. J Am Heart Assoc 32: 2314-2320.

15.    Babar SQ (2005) Research on human blood groups – Diet, practices of herbal medicine and homeopathy. Mesal Pub, Raheem Centre, Press market Amin Pur Bazar, Faisalabad, Pakistan, p: 384.

16.    Akram S, Hussain S (2015) Comparative studies on deficiency of calcium in blood group AB of female hostelized students with other blood group types. Res Rev J Food Dairy Technol, pp: 1-5.

17.    Ainee A, Hussain S, Kausar T, Qureshi TM, Nadeem M, et al. (2014) Studies on comparison of body mass index (BMI) of school going children having different blood groups (A, B, AB and O) of Sargodha district. Pak J Nutr 13: 164-167.

18.    Mukhtar S (2015) Nutritional status assessment of hepatitis C patients with special reference to blood groups. MS Unpublished thesis. Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Pakistan.

19.    Haris A, Hussain S, Qureshi TM, Nadeem M, Nasir MU (2014) Surveillance of blood group “O” human with reference to iodine. Sci Int (Lahore) 26: 311-316.