Even though it is a myth with no scientific basis, many Koreans still believe in the ‘blood type personality theory.’ The blood type personality theory is the claim that a person’s personality is determined or influenced by their blood type. It is the original version of MBTI, a popular personality test these days.
According to the results of a survey of 1,501 adult men and women by Gallup Korea last year, 57% of respondents answered that ‘there are differences in people’s personalities depending on their blood type.’ Although scholars criticize it as absurd pseudoscience, 6 out of 10 Koreans still believe in the ‘blood type personality theory.’ In a popular dating program that aired recently, single men in their 40s became a hot topic by asking women, ‘What is your blood type?’ For reference, Gallup Korea conducted the same survey 11 years ago in 2012, and even then, 58% of respondents answered that they believed in the ‘blood type personality theory.’
According to the blood type personality theory, type A is meticulous, type O is loose-lipped, type B is at my own pace, and type AB is eccentric./Illustration = Chosun Design Lab Jeong Da-un
In the neighboring country of Japan, like Korea, there remains a culture that believes in the ‘blood type theory of personality’. However, recently, more and more people are interested in the correlation between blood types and diseases rather than personality type analysis. Although blood type does not 100% determine a person’s personality, it does a good job of predicting which diseases one is more prone to.
Professor Atsunori Nakao (中尾篤典) of the Department of Medicine at Okayama University in Japan wrote in his book ‘A university professor explains the lying secrets of the human body’ published last year, “The reason is not clearly known, but type O is different from type A, type B, or AB. “Compared to my older brother, I am less likely to get sick,” he said.
Professor Nakao used a number of overseas papers to introduce the fact that people are susceptible to diseases depending on their blood type. According to a study by a Swedish university (2010), the risk of developing stomach cancer for type A was 1.2 times that of type O. Also, according to a paper published by the National Cancer Institute in 2019, the risk of type B pancreatic cancer was 1.72 times that of type O. The probability of type B patients becoming a type 2 diabetes patient (a chronic disease caused by high blood sugar due to a decrease in the ability to produce and utilize insulin) was also 1.21 times that of type O.
Half of those who believe in the blood type personality theory chose type O as their favorite blood type./Graphic = Chosun Design Lab Jeong Daun
What about stroke, the single disease with the highest mortality rate? Stroke is a disease that occurs when a cerebral blood vessel suddenly becomes blocked or burst. According to Professor Nakao, the risk of stroke is highest in type AB. According to an American paper (ABO blood type and stroke risk) published in 2014, the probability of type AB stroke was 1.83 times that of type O. Additionally, according to another American paper published in the same year, the probability of type AB developing dementia was 1.82 times higher than that of type O.
There is an opinion that the reason why type O has the lowest risk of stroke among blood types is because, unlike other blood types, type O does not have antigens in its red blood cells, so the blood is less likely to coagulate. For reference, blood types are divided depending on what antigens are present on red blood cells. Type A red blood cells have the A antigen, type B have the B antigen, and type AB have both antigens. However, type O has no antigen.
In Korea, type A is the most common blood type./Graphic = Chosun Design Lab Jeong Daun
Professor Nakao continued, “Type O’s blood does not clot well, so the incidence of diseases caused by thrombosis (blood clots) is lower than that of other blood types.” He added, “On the other hand, types A, B, and AB have a lower risk of myocardial infarction. “The risk of economy class syndrome (deep vein thrombosis, a disease in which blood clots form deep in the veins of the legs) is 1.25 times higher than that of type O,” he said.
“Type O has a lower risk of contracting diseases compared to other blood types, but the exact reason is not known. Type O is less likely to develop disease than other blood types, but it should be noted that if a person sustains a major wound where massive bleeding is expected, the mortality rate is more than double that of other blood types.”
According to a paper published in 2021 by a research team led by Professor Wataru Takayama of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan, analyzing 901 seriously injured trauma patients, the mortality rate for patients with type O was 28%, more than twice that of other blood types (11%).
The research team analyzed that even in healthy people, type O has only 20 to 30% of the important factors for stopping bleeding compared to other blood types, and that type O has weak hemostasis and blood coagulation ability. Professor Nakao said, “Type O people need to keep in mind that bleeding does not stop easily compared to other blood types when they get into a serious accident, so they need to make a habit of living with caution.”
#Blood #type #stroke #dementia
2024-01-18 01:08:21
