Answer of the Day

“Type O is the oldest and the most common type. About 40,000 BC our ancestors in southern Africa had weapons and tools and they hunted in packs. They were hunter-gatherers, who thrived on meat, which led to their digestive characteristics. In time, hunting grounds became depleted of big game. To survive, the human race migrated to northern Africa. Eventually good hunting there was eliminated leading to migration out of Africa into Europe and Asia. Thus, the basic population of the planet was type O for “old.” In time, depletion of large game in Europe and Asia occurred so different kinds of food were needed. Our ancestors survived on berries, small game, nuts, grubs, and fish. Overpopulation by early man led to increasing competition for the remaining meat, which led to war and further migration.

According to D’Adamo, type A first appeared in Asia or the Middle East between 25,000 and 15,000 BC. Type A mutated from type O because the increased population and major diet changes resulted in many infections. This mutation occurred rapidly. The gene for type A thrived. Characteristics of the culture were agriculture and the raising of domesticated animals. Dietary and environmental changes led to further digestive and immune system mutations. People became better able to absorb and tolerate grains and other agricultural products. They were able to sustain themselves and stable communities arose, which led to networking and cooperation. Eventually the type A gene spread into Western Europe.

Type B (for balance) developed between 15,000 and 10,000 BC in the Himalayas. Changes in climate from hot East Africa to the cold Himalayan highlands may have brought about the mutation to type B. It was characteristic of the Steppe dwellers of the Eurasian plains. Some of these were nomads, who penetrated far into Eastern Europe; while others, agriculturally based, spread through China and Southeast Asia. Movement of type B into North America was prevented by the disappearance of the land mass between it and Asia. Earlier populations in North America were all type O.

Type AB is found in less than 5% of the population and did not exist prior to between 900 and 1,000 years ago. When eastern Mongolian invaders overran the last of European civilization, type AB came into existence. AB’s inherited the tolerances of A and B, which gave them enhanced ability to counteract infections, allergies, and immune diseases. However, they have some increased susceptibility to certain cancers.”

Source(s):

So blood types are a result of evolutionary processes.  Got it.

5 Comments

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5 responses to “Answer of the Day

  1. that is some good info, I never thought about why and how blood groups came to be. I am A-ve by the way…

  2. Interesting and seemingly ‘scientific’ and reasoned;logical, therefore :’Believable’ and quotable as ‘sound’ or ‘highly probable’, ‘Most likely to have hapened as posited’

    While it may fit the observed few facts it mentions i have some ‘problems’:
    1. the emigration from southern Africa (presumably around the Olduvai gorge region?) to Northern Africa (due to loss of big game? Evidenced by?) is stated to have ‘begun’ around 40,000 BC? Australian Aborigines had already populated the Continent (most likely via a land bridge through southern Asia, Indonesia and North Aust.) before that date (some early estimates are 125 000 BC down to 42,000 BC)

    If Australia had been populated by this time surely Asia already had and it is likely people therefore had been living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and N India/Himalayan Kush long before 15 000 BC?

    2 the period 15 000 to 10 000 BC coincides with the time of the last ice age ( Maximum 20 000 minimum 8000 BC) thus the globe was experiencing it’s coldest temperatures in the ‘temperate zones’ best suited to human habitation. Therefore the climate in the Himalayas now would have been much more widespread across the globe than today and indeed it back then may have been too severe for any significant human habitation to have existed?

    3 i believe the last paragraph contains what is likely to be the clue to the real reasons for the differing blood types – ‘invasion’.

    Genetic mutation requires no greater ‘intervention’ than the simple mis-formation of gene replication during cell division and sexual promiscuity which man is not ‘unknown’ for and is often the result of inter-tribal warfare ( which again man seems quite partial to partake in – even today. Rape is one of the ‘spoils’ of war, and new genes are so introduced into cultures from other cultures. The most ‘fit’ will perpetuate the least fit die off.

    Given that in the entire history of mankind there have only been 4 ‘major’ differences (and a few hundred minor changes and combinations of these 4) to our blood cells even though man has moved through a massive range of climate and food types at the same time i believe it is quite preumptious and foolish to try to allocate a specific ‘reason’ to those four changes.

    One further point: while we call them as distinctly different ‘types’ the differences are in fact remarkably ‘similar’ (albeit mostly incompatible with each other) it basically boils down to the presence or absence of a single N-Acetyl-galactosamine or N-Acetyl-glucosamine carbon molecule on a shared antibody type and whether or not a specific Rhesus D antibody is present or absent.

    I wonder how long it might take for a virus to wipe out all people with blood types a and b so we are left with the ‘Original’

    Or if God knows of the evolution of a virus which is to wipe out all people of the Original blood type and so ensured variants exist who can survive it???

    Hey – i could not make it JUST a scientific argument – now could i?? 😉

    Nice to have you ‘back’ 🙂

    <B

  3. Is this tale about the ABO blood system still being peddled even today? The storyline is just a modelling technique used in molecular biology: the development trajectory of blood types is only theoretical and based on back-forming analysis of modern genetic material. We don’t have even the minimum level of facts on ancient blood types to make statements like that.

  4. Do you have a better explanation?

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