My husband and I both donated blood through our local blood bank in December. This week we both received our free cholesterol lipid panel results. Without the BTD, our results would be a mystery.

My husband is a Type A. Two years ago (before we knew about the BTD) his cholesterol reports were consistently high or borderline. Our doctor was not happy and put him on Zocor.

I am Type O. Before the Blood Type Diet my cholesterol had been as high as 217 and my Triglycerides as high as 102. Our doctor said, "Better watch your diet."

I started the Blood Type diet in June of 2003 to get relief from GERD. The results were so wonderful, that I began nudging the rest of my family toward eating for their blood type. My husband willingly follows the BTD pretty well as long as I'm around to tell him what to eat. When he is out on his own... well that's another story.

Even at that level of compliance, his Cholesterol panel improved so much by June, 2004 that the doctor cut his dose of Zocor in half. Today his cholesterol panel looked so good that he is going to ask the doctor about quitting or further reducing the Zocor.

Now here's the mystery. Both of us have much better cholesterol reports since starting the BTD, but we have changed our diets in exact opposite ways.

My husband's cholesterol dropped when he stopped eating red meat. But I eat lots of red meat. In fact I have lamb or beef almost every day.

My cholesterol dropped when I stopped eating wheat. My husband eats lots of grain including wheat. He has grain at every meal, and has wheat at least once a day.

Without an understanding of Blood Types our results would seem to be contradictory. But with a knowledge of blood types they make perfect sense. Red meat is beneficial for Type Os, but will contribute to elevated cholesterol in Type As. Wheat is neutral for Type A, but will contribute to elevated cholesterol in Type Os.

How frustrating for people who diligently follow the standard cholesterol diet or their doctor's directions, but find their next cholesterol test to be even worse.

How rewarding for my husband and me to see great cholesterol tests, though our diets are quite different.

Today my husband's cholesterol panel looked like this:

Cholesterol - 164

Triglycerides - 145

HDL - 57

LDL - 78

Ratio - 2.9

Today my cholesterol panel looked like this:

Cholesterol - 193

Triglycerides - 40

HDL - 76

LDL - 109

Ratio - 2.5