try doing a search on D’Adamo’s own database as described on the Wikipedia discussion for Blood Type Diet. (search the Lectin database for specificity=”blood group”). You will come up with 6 lectins. and half of those aren’t even food.

We, who follow his programs, already knew this years ago..

If you ever visit Wales - my homeland - then you must take time to eat at one of the rural restaurants that offers real Welsh mountain lamb or mutton that has spent its life nibbling the wild thyme of the local hills. I recommend Plas Bodegroes, the Griffin gastropub near Brecon, Carlton Riverside, Ynys Hir and Llangoed Hall.

Dan

Anna and Dan, it is true that we should strive for a balance between good food and good health. Who wants to be one of those CR people that is trying to live to 110, but has no sex drive and has to wear gloves in the summer cause they’re so cold? That said, to me, what most people consider “good food” is usually not all that exciting. I don’t find pasta to be all that great…it just tastes like whatever sauce goes on top of it. I do enjoy a nice crusty bread now and again, but that too is less pleasing to the palate than my mind thinks it will be. Give me a nice lamb leg with a mint marinade and now you’re talking about great food that is also health-supporting.

Anna, sorry to hear your son will need braces. I had them back in high school, but was lucky and only needed them for 17 months, rather than the usual 2+ years most people have them. I recall that every time I had them tightened, the next day at school was taco day. Try eating hard-shelled tacos with teeth that ache!

Great discussion!
Scott

Thanks!

It’s funny you should ask about cavities. Gabriel has classmates who had *crowns* by 1st and 2nd grade because of so many cavities/fillings!

No cavities for Gabriel yet, but he has the worst tooth brushing habits! While I do encourage him in good oral hygiene habits, but I don’t micromanage them for him. That’s his responsibility now. I put my efforts into growing strong teeth from the inside out (keep your fingers crossed for me) with good food. I do send him three times a year for tooth cleanings (myself, too) and I stopped all fluoride for the family about two years ago. Our local water is not currently fluoridated, though there are rumblings that it might start soon.

We are looking into orthodontics, though. My son sucked his thumb until nearly kindergarten and has an overbite as a result. My husband also has an overbite and dental alignment problems that were only partially corrected with orthodontics in his late 30s - he chose not to do the surgical jaw-breaking procedure (his mom says he was a “dummy” sucker (pacifier user” until age 4 when the milk-man shamed him into throwing it away).

I hadn’t any clue of the WAPF and palate/arch/dental stuff when it might have made a bigger difference in Gabriel’s teeth, though I was off sugar and grain at least the last third of the pregnancy, but that might not have been early enough. And for a few years afterward I was back to baking lots of bread, still using 1% milk, and making bread custard pudding with stale bread for him until he was about 5 or so. Still, looking back on it, in addition to some food things, perhaps I also should have been more proactive about the thumb sucking, instead of waiting for him to give it up on his own. Hard to say.

We can wait until the early teen years on orthodontics, but we are also considering an earlier phase starting this summer just to pull the top front teeth in to protect them from breaking off if he takes a blow to the mouth. Crowding doesn’t seem to be an issue at this point, but bite alignment is off. I’m still researching all that before deciding what to do. It’s hard to get good info (none of the orthodontists have heard of WAP, of course) and the focus in California is on cosmetics as much as good dental health, naturally. My focus is on function, health, and reducing the chance he’ll knock those two front teeth out, with cosmetic considerations lower on the list. Of course I want him to have a nice smile, but it doesn’t need to be “Hollywood” perfect. The teenagers around here look like rodents to me, thanks to orthodontics :-). Gabriel is a pretty active kid - skateboarding, cycling, soccer, but he seems to hurt his hands and legs more, not his face. And his lack of care with toothbrushing may just influence me to not do the early orthodontics phase anyway.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions on this, I’m all ears.

I did go and re-examine the Swank diet and was shocked at the amount of grains that were recommended.
It seemed to be encouraging people to stuff themselves with bread, whilst limiting all oils, even fish oils.
Though, some people seem to do well on this diet.
Just like so many others, it’s never a ‘one size fits all’ solution.

A fact that many GPs and specialists seem to be unable to comprehend.

Just this week, I had to discuss a problem with a practice nurse and she said rather sternly, ” how do you KNOW you don’t have diabetes”
To which, I replied that I controlled my blood sugars by limiting carbohydrates and she looked horrified.

Further down the text, you can see the explanation.

I’m not an expert on saturated fats, so I won’t take part in that discussion, but I’ve been reading a lot about auto-immune diseases, because I was diagnosed with RA, and I’m very well, without symptoms, since I eat a paleo type diet, with tubers. I also supplement with a Multivitamin/mineral formula, high amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids (around 3 grs of EPA+DHA), 1600 UI of Vitamin D, glutamine, Prebiotic and Probiotic to correct leaky gut.

Regards

Miguel

MS and Fats – A Balancing Act
By Ashton Embry
The Swank Research & Diet
The role of fats in MS has been passionately debated for over 50 years. It all began over 50 years ago when Dr. Roy Swank published a paper in 1950 claiming that saturated fat was an important factor in MS. Saturated fat is one of four main types of fat which also include monounsaturated fat, omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and omega 6 PUFA. Swank supported his thesis with observations that populations that consumed high amounts of saturated fat had the highest rates of MS. He documented that farm-dwelling, meat-eating Norwegians had two to three times the rate of MS compared to their coastal, fish-eating cousins. Swank hypothesized that saturated fat caused MS by forming micro-emboli in capillaries in the brain and these resulted in CNS tissue degeneration.
Swank conducted a 40-year clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a “low fat” diet for MS. Swank uses the term “fat” only for saturated fat and he refers to the three unsaturated fat types as “oils”. He advised trial participants to eat less than 20 g of saturated fat a day and to increase their oil consumption, including the use of a cod liver oil supplement. Some of the participants did not follow the advice and consumed much more saturated fat. They became the “controls” for the study. The persons eating the low saturated fat/increased oils diet did much better than those who did not. They had much less disease progression and much longer life spans. Based on these results, a low saturated fat diet has been recommended for persons for MS in many self help books and even a few neurologists quietly suggest such a regimen.
The Role of Polyunsaturated Fats in MS
In the 1970s there was great interest in the possible value of increased polyunsaturated fats for MS and a few small clinical trials were done using either omega 6 PUFA (mainly sunflower oil) or omega 3 PUFA (mainly fish oil). These trials were inconclusive and the medical community lost interest in the role of fats in MS and their potential use as therapeutic agents. Over the past 30 years there have been a few epidemiological studies that suggest that fats may indeed play a role in MS, although an analysis of the huge Nurses database by Harvard scientists did not indicate any relationship between fat intake and MS occurrence.
Types of Fat & Immune Response
So do one or more fat types play a role in MS? MS is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease in which myelin-sensitive immune cells are inappropriately activated and are not sufficiently suppressed to prevent damage to myelin. Importantly, it has been demonstrated that the various types of fat have different influences on immune cells by either promoting or suppressing inflammatory immune reactions. This indicates that fats certainly have the potential to be involved in MS. The research shows that both omega 6 and omega 3 PUFA regulate the immune system and affect both the inflammatory side and the suppressor side.
Omega 6 PUFA (found in mainly in vegetable oils) tend to have more effect on the inflammatory side than do omega 3 PUFA. However one omega 6 fatty acid found in evening primrose oil and some other oils such as borage and blackcurrant – gamma linolenic acid – gets around this problem by starting later on in the conversion process of fatty acids and is therefore not pro-inflammatory.

Omega 3 PUFA found mainly in fish oil and a few other sources (flax, canola) have much more anti-inflammatory capability than do omega 6 PUFA. Thus the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 consumed influences one’s anti-inflammatory response. Curiously there are no data to indicate that saturated fats have any noticeable effect on the immune system. Finally, monounsaturated fats (e.g. olive oil) are mildly anti-inflammatory.
Proportions of Fats Eaten Today
As discussed in my last column, the nutritional factors involved in MS are those that have been introduced into the human environment through the agricultural, industrial and technological revolutions. Although the overall amount of fat consumed has not changed very much, the proportions of the four main fat types being consumed in the developed Western world today are very different from those consumed by our Paleolithic ancestors. These societies eat much more omega 6 PUFA and saturated fat and much less omega 3 and monounsaturated fat. Notably some of the omega 6 PUFA in many baked products has been chemically changed to trans fatty acids that may also contribute to inflammation. Such a significant change in fat intake decreases a person’s anti-inflammatory responses and this contributes to the promotion of inflammatory diseases such as MS.
Ratios of Types of Fats
Given the above, it is very likely that fats play a role in MS onset and progression by decreasing anti-inflammatory capacity. Persons with MS or anyone wanting to lower their risk of MS would be wise to adopt the fat intake ratios of the Paleolithic. The most important ratio seems to be omega 6 / omega 3 which is currently estimated to be 10 –20. This starkly contrasts with the much lower Paleolithic ratio of 1-2. The Paleolithic ratio for monounsaturated/ saturated was 2-3 which is higher than that of today (>1).
Given these ratios, more omega 3 PUFA and monounsaturated fat and less omega 6 and saturated fat are required. 70 to 80 grams of total fat (720 kilocalories/ 35% total energy) is a reasonable daily intake. To achieve a proper balance of fat types the suggested amounts of the four fat types are
• 40g of monounsaturated fat
• 18 g of saturated fat
• 14 g of omega 6 PUFA
• 8g of omega 3 PUFA (mainly from fish oil)
• Trans fats, a product of the recent technological revolution, should be completely avoided.
With this understanding, it appears the main problem with a high intake of saturated fat for MS is that it tends to preclude an adequate intake of omega 3 PUFA and monounsaturated fat. Also, PUFAs compete and lose against saturated fat in the metabolic process. Swank’s recommendations of reducing saturated fat and increasing the oils had a beneficial effect because they led to a reasonable approximation of a Paleolithic balance of fat types and this in turn decreased inflammatory reactions. He was right for the wrong reason.

I heartily agree!