What Your Blood Type Says About Your Love Life
A blood type test is a simple procedure in which a phlebotomist punctures your vein with a needle to draw blood. The four major blood types are A, B, AB, and O. The question we ask today is whether our blood group defines who will puncture our heart when we fall in love.
If it can be this complicated to find our perfect match in a laboratory, where does this leave us in love? We uncover some of the most popular theories about blood type compatibility. Learn what your blood type says about you:
You’ve heard of 'Survival of the Fittest': the most fit and healthy of a species survives to pass on their genes and the weaker specimens die out. Well, scientific studies are reported to show that your blood group can play a part in determining how healthy or ‘fit’ you are likely to be, and so may play an important role in your love life.
For example, a study published in the journal Neurology is said to claim that AB blood types suffer from greater memory loss, and the Harvard School of Public Health pinpoints blood type O as being less at risk of heart disease. These advantages and disadvantages may quietly play into your choice of mate.
We all know that looks and fitness don’t count for everything; we tell our children that personality is just as important. So, is it?
According to Japanese Professor Furukawa Takeji, your blood group determines your personality traits. This notion has been so well taken up in Japan that schools, businesses, and sports teams are reported to have considered it for teaching materials, job applications, selection of team players, and they even produce food and drinks for specific blood groups.
Naturally, since the assumption that your blood group affects your personality and, therefore, how you gel with others, your A, B, AB, or O grouping might be important when dating.
Once you find your perfect match, what then?
Almost 600 women in their mid-thirties took part in the study and all were receiving fertility treatment. Regardless of their age, women with blood type O were found to have a greater risk of “diminished ovarian reserve,” but Chair of the British Fertility Society at the time of the study said it needed “further exploration.”
Like any horoscope — for your stars or your blood type — there are those who believe and those who don’t. For some, it's nothing more than a pleasurable or amusing read.
In parts of Asia, horoscopes are written not for your star sign, but for your blood group. This is also said to define who you’ll pair up with for marriage, based on blood type personality traits.
If you haven’t considered that the glittering vials of red liquid we see in a lab can be so potent, let’s take a look at what we already know.
The American Red Cross states that there are in fact eight blood groups in total: A, B, AB, and O, all with both positive and negative categories. These blood groups are inherited from our parents. However, in the case of matching blood donors, for example, things are not quite so simple:
“People come in all different shapes, sizes and blood types. The vast majority of blood types fall into one of the major ABO groups. However, for a small percentage of the population, finding someone else with the same blood type can be as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack.” — American Red Cross
#1 Your Blood Group, Physical Attraction, and Health
American Red Cross Blood Donor
Minnesota National Guard / Flickr / CC BY-ND
If you’re not convinced that your survival and that of your children is already pre-determined in this way, consider the importance that can also be put on diet and eating for your blood type.
The popular book Eat Right 4 Your Type by Dr. Peter D'Adamo dates back to 1995 and has hundreds of reader reviews on Amazon — the majority of them positive. The author claims that your blood type “reflects your internal chemistry and actually determines the way you absorb nutrients,” but although many people seem to agree with him, other readers see him as a “charlatan” and report that his evidence is “100% circumstantial.”
Even so, the theory that certain foods are better for your blood type may help you and your children overcome your blood type's natural disadvantages.
#2 Blood Type Personality
Multiple Personalities
Blast 707 Photography / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND
Asian student Eugenia Chiang writes about her own experience at home where talk of blood type and personality has been commonplace among her family. Blood types A and AB are given the quieter traits of gentle and caring, or cool and rational. Blood type O is said to be more sociable and agreeable, whereas type B is wild and cheerful.
Do these descriptions fit your blood type?
#3 Finding a Mate with a Compatible Blood Group
Dating by blood type has been around for years in Japan and Chieko Ichikawa, a professional from the Human Science ABO Center in Tokyo, explains why:
"People sometimes use blood type analysis to see who may be a better match for them," Ichikawa said. "Such knowledge should be used only as guidance and not a definitive last word. But knowing one's blood type is like doing your homework. It may better prepare you when you meet a stranger or give some reasoning for the behavior of someone, which you may find hard to understand." — Chieko Ichkawa | abcnews.go.com
#4 Fertility and Reproduction
A study undertaken by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Yale University shows some evidence that women with blood type O are less fertile than those with blood type A.
Blood Drop on Finger Tip
Alden Chadwick / Flickr / CC BY
Is a Passion for Phlebotomy 'In Your Blood'?
However, if you’re fascinated by the blood that courses through our veins and its associated myths and legends, training to be a phlebotomy technician could be right up your alley.
How much power over your life does your blood type really have? Share your questions, experiences, and comments in the box below.
