Spirit: Blood money

Blood accounts for one 16th of our body weight, but is it possible that our personalities are determined by the blood group we belong to? That's the controversial theory which is gaining ground in the US and Japan, thanks to the work of a number of proselytising scientists and authors.

In Japan, an obsession with blood type started in the 1920s, when the psychology professor Takeji Furukawa began exploring the relationship between blood and psychological characteristics. Then, in the 1970s, the journalist Masahiko Nomi popularised the link between blood type and personality with his book, What Blood Types Reveal About Your Compatibility. Thirty years on, it is now into its 250th print-run and polls suggest that 70 per cent of Japanese believe that blood type and personality are linked. This is a country where singles bars offer a service matching people up based on their blood type. Condoms are packaged along similar lines " as are chewing gum, soft drinks and, er, calendars. And, if all that isn't odd enough, there are even companies which hire employees, not on experience and skill, but on blood-type compatibility. In Japan, blood-type has the same kind of significance for many people as star signs do in the West.

In America, the physician Dr Peter J D'Adamo undertook his own studies, inspired by Nomi, and in 1997 published the diet book Eat Right For Your Type, which has now sold over two million copies worldwide. Elizabeth Hurley and Courtney Cox-Arquette are said to be fans. In his new, follow- up book, Live Right For Your Type, D'Adamo assesses the characteristics associated with the four blood types, O, A, B and AB, and describes the kind of behavioural problems that people from each group are most likely to suffer from.

According to D'Adamo, if you are an O " the UK's most common blood type " you are prone to becoming angry when stressed. You're also inclined to gamble, become hyperactive, moody and controlling, and you may suffer from manic depression, substance abuse and schizophrenia. People with type B overreact if stressed, they have disrupted sleep patterns and daytime 'brain fog'. Meanwhile, those with type A have a tendency to over-exercise (which could be due to their susceptability to obsessive-compulsive disorder), and type-AB people can feel angry, alienated and over-emotional.

'There's no doubt that a connection exists between our body and mind,' says D'Adamo. 'The way we feel, imagine, think and dream comes from the complex chemical systems in our body.'

During my research I quickly came across individuals who seemed to conform to the behaviours described by D'Adamo. Pete Jenkinson, 37, is a music- business lecturer in Manchester. He is type A. 'That's weird,' he says, when presented with the research, 'because I do over-train. Looking back, I can remember doing the odd spinning class at my local gym, but that gradually escalated into five sessions each week. The same happened with playing squash.' Jenkinson also admits to a fixation with tidiness, and says he's always clearing his email inbox " but is he obsessive-compulsive, or just organised?

Diane Trilby, 26, manages a fashion boutique in central London. She is type O. 'I do get angry when I'm stressed,' she sighs, 'and I do have a tendency to cry easily.' Trilby has been on Prozac for six years. She has mounting credit-card debts, a history of long-term cocaine addiction, and has previously suffered from drug-induced psychosis.

In these cases, D'Adamo may be right, but there are plenty of sceptical experts out there who are keen to disprove his theory. 'All of this is absolute bunk,' fumes Dr Dean Hammer, genetics specialist at the Laboratory of Biochemistry, Washington DC. 'Even if there was some sort of weak statistical correlation between blood type and personality, it would almost certainly be a spurious result of population stratification, rather than a direct cause and effect. It is easy for an entire population to become obsessed with a ludicrous theory.'

Another scientist who sees the flaw in D'Adamo's theory is Dr Stephan Mensal, of the Molecular Haematology department, King's College, London. 'Blood groups are the only genetic markers that are tested in almost everyone,' he says, 'so people will always try to attach all kinds of significance to them.' n

'Live Right For Your Type' by Dr Peter J D'Adamo is published by Penguin, priced pounds 8.99. To order a copy with free p&p, call Independent Books Direct on 08700 798 897

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