You probably already lament any risks for illness you inherited from your family’s gene pool, but unfortunately, there is now yet another concern to consider.  Your blood type may determine your risk for heart disease, which means yet another aspect of your life that you can’t control but that impacts your health.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health combined and analyzed information from two large and long-term studies.  These studies involved more than 90,000 people and at least two decades.  After taking into account age, gender, as well as other important factors, they found that people with Type O blood seemed to be at much less of a risk for heart disease than those with other blood types.  To be exact, their findings showed that people with Type B blood are 11% more likely to develop heart disease than those with Type O.  Type As had a 5% higher risk, and Type ABs were at the highest risk, being 23% more likely to suffer from a heart disease.  Their results are yet to be confirmed or explained, but some theories suggest it could have to do with varying levels of LDL and inflammation linked to certain blood types.

Unfortunately, we cannot change our blood type, so if you are in the higher risk categories, this study may cause some concern.  However, these results do not prove that you will definitely have heart disease if you have Type AB blood.  It only shows that you are more likely to suffer from it.  You can still control other factors such as your weight, exercise, and nutrition, which can do a lot towards preventing heart issues. Forewarned is forearmed.  So, if your blood type is one that places you at higher risk for heart disease, you will simply need to work harder to keep heart disease at bay.

 

– Yvonne S. Thornton, M. D., M. P. H.