The following are fantastic English books!
Dean Hamer: Living with Our
GenesLiving with Our Genes -- Why They Matter More Than You Think --(1998) by Dean Hamer, et. al.
Dean Hamer, Ph. D., is Chief of Gene Structure and
Regulation at the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Biochemistry. Coauthor
Peter Copeland is an award winning journalist.
According to the authors, certain genes affect dopamine or serotonin to make difference of
personality traits. Some researchers say that certain HLA
types might affect neuronal post-synaptic membrane sensitivity to central
neurotransmitters -- such as dopamine. So, ABO blood type might affect dopamine
and/or serotonin to make difference of personality traits.
By the way, the authors might have known "blood type fever" in Japan.
Because ...
The Israeli scientists did a simple experiment. They rounded up 124 subjects from the local university and health center students, health care workers, and friends just ordinary people, not patients with mental diseases. The volunteers were given Cloninger's questionnaire, a "true-false" quiz used to measure novelty seeking and other traits. The researchers took a little blood, prepared DNA, and measured the length of the key region of the D4DR gene.
The final step was to see if the length of a person's D4DR gene was related to the score for novelty seeking. It did. People with one or two copies of a long version of the gene, containing six or more repeats, scored on average 0.5 standard deviations higher for novelty seeking than did people with only the shorter forms of the gene, a statistically significant result. The longer the gene, the more the person claimed a desire for new and exciting experiences.
The length of the D4DR gene had no effect on the other personality traits of harm avoidance, reward dependence, or persistence. Moreover, the relationship between D4DR and novelty seeking was apparent in both men and women and wasn't affected by the age, race, ethnic group, or education level of the subjects.
This was exciting news, the first hint of a connection between a personality trait and a specific gene coding for a known protein. The evidence, however, was less than completely convincing. For one thing, the Israeli scientists had looked at only one group of rather modest size. Many previously claimed links between genes and behavior could never be repeated by other scientists using different subjects. A more serious concern was the possibility that the subjects just happened to have different variations of the gene and different levels of novelty seeking.
This kind of error can happen easily. Suppose a team decided to look for a "chopstick gene." They go to Tokyo and Indianapolis and ask people whether they eat with chop sticks. The difference in chopstick usage between the Americans and the Japanese is astounding, off the charts. Next they take DNA samples and find a strong, very significant association between one particular genetic marker -- say a blood group gene -- and the use of chopsticks. Again there is a statistically significant difference between the Tokyo residents and the people from Indianapolis. Eureka! Since the people with this gene are more likely to eat with chopsticks, that must mean the gene is involved with the ability to use chopsticks, perhaps something to do with eye-to-hand coordination. The scientists pop champagne and publish an article heralding the discovery of a gene for the "successful use of selected hand instruments (SUSHI)." The correlations could he very strong and other investigators likely could repeat the experiment and get the same results. And yet the conclusion would be utterly wrong.
The flaw is this: the SUSHI gene actually codes for something that just happens to have different frequencies in Asians and Caucasians, as is often the case for blood proteins. And Japanese people use chopsticks more than Hoosiers for purely cultural reasons. Therefore the apparent association is spurious.
Ann Louise Gittleman: Your
Body Knows BestYour Body Knows Best -- The Revolutionary Eating Plan That Helps You Achieve Your Optimal Weight and Energy Level for Life -- (1996) by Ann Louise Gittleman, et. al.
The way of diet may be different from Dr. Peter D'adamo -- Type A person. Because the author of this book is Type B ...
How Blood Type Influences Our Health
In addition to knowing where our ancestors came from and our rate of metabolism, there is another modifying factor that must be taken into account in personalizing a diet. Our own heritage is intimately tied in with blood type, a determination that evolved along with our other characteristics. The different blood types (A, B, AB, and O) appeared at different times during human kind's evolution and are related to the movement of generations of people over the continents. Although most of us are familiar with the standard ABO system of blood typing, few of us may realize how those different blood types connect us intimately to our distant past. Fewer still understand that our own blood type may be the secret clue to what the best foods are for each of us. Research also has indicated that blood type might affect our vulnerability to disease.
In Japan, the study of blood type and its impact on personality is serious business. Toshitaka Nomi has published over 25 books on the subject (including You Are Your Blood Type, Pocket Books, 1983) and is considered to be the world's foremost expert. Companies in Japan such as Honda, Toyota, and Yamaha frequently consult blood type information when determining consumer preference for marketing and manufacturing, or compatibilities among employees. Nomi also has postulated that national personality traits of Americans, Germans, and Japanese are based on the different balances between the blood type groups in their populations.
Nomi suggests that in general, blood type O's are goal oriented and enthusiastic, while blood type A's are more detail oriented and fastidious. Blood type B's tend to be creative and unconventional, whereas type AB's have a great spiritual sensitivity.
In North America, there have been two prominent naturopathic physicians, James D'Adamo and his son Peter D'Adamo, who have extensively researched blood groups in their relation to biochemistry, diet, and disease. You may want to refer to the published papers of Peter D'Adamo for more scientific documentation (see the References). In the book The D'Adamo Diet (McGraw-Hill, 1989), which is oriented more for the lay reader, James D'Adamo writes that because blood carries nutrients throughout the body, perhaps different blood types act differently with foods and their nutrient components. He found that people who had blood type A did well on a vegetarian or near-vegetarian diet, as did those with the very rare type AB, but individuals with type B need more animal protein in their diet. Type O's found it virtually impossible to remain on a vegetarian diet and feel healthy; as the oldest blood type, O's have been found to have a much greater genetic need for animal protein and fat. Type O's also tend to be much more physical, while A's are considerably less so, expending more of their energy in mental processes.
Before we look more closely at which foods are appropriate for the different blood types, let's examine the underpinnings of Dr. D'Adamo's findings. If it's true that different blood types react differently to different foods, then our next question might be, why do people have different blood types? The answer is one I've referred to several times: evolution. As humans moved across the planet in search of food, their bodies gradually adapted to what ever local conditions they found. (By gradually, of course, we mean over the course of millions of years. Evolution is such a slow process, a few generations are not sufficient to help the body adapt. That's one of the reasons why so many of us have trouble with sugar; it's only been available to us in its refined state and in abundance for the last 150 years!)
Peter J. D'Adamo: Eat Right
for Your TypeEat Right for Your Type -- Staying Healthy, Living Longer, Achieving Your Ideal Weight -- (1996) by Peter J. D'Adamo,Catherine Whitney
Needless to mention about this book! Because almost all of you already know the book. Japanese Edition is also available now.
<-- Japanese Edition
The Personality Question
With all of these fundamental connections at work, it is not surprising that people might speculate about less tangible characteristics that might be attributed to blood type -- such as personality, attitudes, and behavior.
I have experienced this personally on many occasions. People often remark about the fact that I have followed in my father's footsteps to become a naturopath. "You're a chip off the old block," some will say. Or, "I guess you inherited your father's passion for healing." And sometimes, "It looks like the D'Adamos have medical genes."
Even when the observation is made partially in jest, I sense that most people truly believe that I have inherited something besides my physiological characteristics from my father -- that it isn't just an accident that I am drawn to the same work that he is drawn to.
The idea that certain inherited traits, mannerisms, emotional qualities, and life preferences are buried in our genetic makeup is well accepted, although we aren't sure how to gauge this inheritance scientifically. We don't know (yet!) of any genes for personality.
Some might argue that the way we behave has more to do with nurture than with nature. But perhaps it is both. Recently, Beverly, a longtime patient, brought her adult daughter in to see me. Beverly had told me earlier that she was young and unmarried when her daughter was born, and she gave her up for adoption. For thirty years, Beverly never knew what had become of her daughter -- until the day a familiar-looking young woman appeared on her doorstep, having found her birth mother through a search organization. It turned out that Beverly's daughter was raised on the West Coast, in a very different environment from Beverly's. Yet I was astounded to watch the two of them together. They were mother and daughter in every way. They possessed exactly the same mannerisms and accents (even though Beverly was a New Yorker and her daughter was a Californian), and they seemed to share a similar sense of humor. Amazingly, Beverly's daughter had chosen the same profession as her mother. Both were human resource managers for their companies. If ever there was evidence of a genetic connection to personality, it was sitting in my office.
Of course, I realize this evidence is anecdotal, not scientific. Most of the research into this aspect of blood types is just that. till, the connection intrigues us because it makes some sense that there might be a causal relationship between what occurs at the cellular level of our beings and our mental, physical, and emotional tendencies as expressed by our blood type.
Evolutionary changes altered the immune systems and digestive tracts of humans, resulting in the development of the blood types. But the mental and emotional response systems were also altered by evolutionary changes, and, with this alteration, very different psychological patterns and behaviors emerged.
Each blood type waged a difficult, and very distinct, battle for its existence some far time ago. The driven loner Type O would have failed miserably in the orderly, cooperative environment of Type A -- a big reason for the blood type adaptation in the first place. Would it be such a surprise to find many of these primitive characteristics hidden in some deep remove of our psyches?
The belief that personality is determined by one's blood type is held in high regard in Japan. Termed ketsu-eki-gata, Japanese blood type analysis is serious business. Corporate managers use it to hire workers, market researchers use it to predict buying habits, and most people use it to choose friends, romantic partners, and lifetime mates. Vending machines that offer on-the-spot blood type analysis are widespread in train stations, department stores, restaurants, and other public places. There is even a highly respected organization, the ABO Society, dedicated to helping individuals and organizations make the right decisions, consistent with blood type.
The leading proponent of the blood type-personality connection is a man named Toshitaka Nomi, whose father first pioneered the theory. In 1980, Nomi and Alexander Besher wrote a book called You Are Your Blood Type, which has sold more than 6 million copies in Japan. It contains personality profiles and suggestions for the various blood types -- right down to what you should do for a living, whom you should marry, and the dire consequences that might befall you if you should ignore this advice.
It makes for fun reading -- not unlike astrology, numerology, or other methods of finding your place in the uncertain scheme of things. I think, however, that most of the advice in the book should be taken with a grain of salt. For instance, I don't believe that a soul mate or a romantic partner should be chosen by blood type. I am Type A and I am deeply in love with my wife, Martha, who is Type O. I would hate to think that we might have been kept forever apart because of some psychic incompatibility in our blood types. We do just fine, even though mealtimes can be a lit
tle chaotic.
Furthermore, as with all attempts to label people, this one has ominous undertones. Once you say, "Type A is this," or "Type B is that," the unavoidable next step is to say, "Type B is superior," or "Only a Type O can be president." Caste systems develop. A variation of this happens every day in Japan-for example, when a company advertises that it is looking for Type Bs to fill middle management positions.
So what is the value of this speculation, and why am I including it here? It's very simple. Although I think the Japanese ketsu-eki-gata is extreme, I can't deny that there is probably an essential truth to the theories about a relationship between our cells and our personalities.
Modern scientists and doctors have clearly acknowledged the existence of a biological mind-body connection, and we've already demonstrated the relationship between your blood type and your response to stress earlier in this chapter. The idea that your blood type may relate to your personality is not really so strange. Indeed, if you look at each of the blood types, you can see a distinct personality emerging -- the inheritance of our ancestral strengths. Perhaps this is just another way for you to play to those strengths.
The characterizations and suggestions I will make about your "blood type personality" are based on the pooled impressions made from empirical observations of thousands of people over many years. Perhaps this data will provide a fuller picture of the vital force of blood type. Just don't let it become a source of limitation -- rather, let it be a source of fulfillment.
By playing to your blood type's strengths, you may be able to achieve greater efficiency and accuracy in your work, and greater emotional happiness and security in your life.
There is as yet not enough hard evidence to justify any sweeping conclusions about the use of blood type to determine personality, but a world of information is waiting to be annexed and explored. A full understanding of the unique cellular blueprint of our bodies still eludes our deepest probing.
Perhaps in the next century we will finally be able to examine some master plan; a map that will show us how to get from here to there within ourselves. But perhaps not. There is so much we don't understand, so much we may never understand. But we can speculate, reflect, and consider the many possibilities. That is why we have, as a species, developed such acute intelligence.
These elements -- diet, weight management, dietary supplementation, stress control, and personal qualities form the essential elements of your individual Blood Type Plan. Refer to them of ten as you begin to familiarize yourself with the specific qualities of your blood type.
But before you go any further, I suggest you do one more thing: Know your blood type!
Fantastic! Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo had published a really epoch-making book. With this book, the blood-type-and-personality dispute have been almost settled…
See also Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo' s Book.
R. Grant Steen: DNA &
DestinyDNA & Destiny -- Nature & Nurture in Human Behavior -- (1996) by R. Grant Steen
I read this book only in Japanese ... Anyway very interesting!
The above is Japanese Edition.
While our current personality tests undoubtedly have problems, the fact that identical twins reared apart are so similar is strong evidence for the heritability of personality.
Exhaustive testing of occupational, vocational, and general interests has shown that these facets of personality are about 40% heritable overall.(*1) There were significant differences between identical twins reared together and identical twins reared apart, which confirms that the role of the environment is fairly large in determining interests. Finally, several different tests showed that even something as nebulous as social attitudes are about 40% heritable. In fact, the degree to which twins reported that religion was important in their life was 49% heritable, while the extent to which twins adhered to the same traditional values was 53% heritable. The biggest single difference that could be found between the twins was in "nonreligious social attitudes," which are apparently much influenced by education, but which were still 34% heritable.(*1) While one should bear in mind that identical twins reared apart provide an estimate of the maximum plausible heritability of a trait, these results are still astounding. Parenthetically, IQ was found to be 69% heritable, on the basis of these identical twins reared apart (as we discussed in Chapter 8).
Different personality determinants could conceivably differ in their degree of heritability, with some determinants being more heritable than others. However, current data do not show strong differences between determinants. Several years ago, a compilation of four different studies, which together involved over 30,000 pairs of twins, suggested that extroversion and neuroticism are both about 50% heritable.(*2) More recently, data compiled from different studies (Table 1) show a fairly uniform heritability of the different personality traits; extroversion is most heritable at about 47%, and agreeableness is least heritable at about 39%(*3) These conclusions are based on several different studies that examined large numbers of twins, used modern methods pf psychological assessment, and employed the very latest computer models to calculate heritability. Men and women differ somewhat, in that the heritability of personality is margin ally lower in men than in women. But all studies converge in concluding that the heritability of personality traits averages between 41 and 51%, and that environment plays a substantial role in determining personality.Table 1 Inheritance of Personality Traitsa
Traits Heritability Environment Extroversion 47% 53% Openness 46% 54% Neuroticism 46% 54% Coscientiousness 40% 60% Agreeableness 39% 61% Overall personality 45% 55% (a) Data for each personality traits averaged from many separate studies. (*3)
*1 Bouchard, T. J., et al., Sources of human psychological differences: The Minesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, Science 250 (1990): 223-228.
*2 Plomin, R., The roles of inheritance in behavior, Science 248 (1990): 183-188.
*3 Bouchard, T. J., Genes, environment, and personality, Science 264 (1994): 1700-1701.
Dr. Jacques Laurent: "4 groupes sanguins 4 personnalités"
... 19 EUROThe following is a fantastic French book!
Sorry, I cannot understand French.
It's Greek to me, rather, it's French to me. :-p
Some interesting scientific findings (ex. neuro-mascular
excitement) are shown. Also you will find blood types of famous people.
If you would like to buy the book, please visit http://www.testezeditions.be/.
Caution: you must read French.
Last update: June 1, 2007.
E-mail: abofan@js2.so-net.ne.jp
