Hi Heidi, I just received the results of my secretor test and have confirmed that I am a non-secretor (as I was already sure!). Now that I know that I am a non-secretor, I am trying to find out as much as I can about it. I have picked up from reading this column that there are several distinguishing features of non-secretors: something about eye/hair colour (can you explain this?), dental issues, diabetes, etc. I've looked in BTD and LR4YT extensively (and a little bit in the Encyclopedia at the bookstore) for definite info on non-secretors all collected in one place but I still feel like most of what I know is vague and I must be missing some info. Can you give a summary of what it means to be a non-secretor? Thanks, Kate

Hey there, Kate! Congratulations! and Welcome to the ol' Nonnie Tribe! ;-)

The hair/eye note you saw was something Peter posted on the old message board. He mentioned that green-eyed folks with either brown or red hair are more likely to be secretors. No guarantee there, though -- just an interesting "unverified association" to ponder while gazing at your friends and neighbors... or awaiting your saliva test results. ;-)

Nonsecretors are overrepresented among people with diabetes (and other ailments) and among folks sitting in the dentist's office. That doesn't mean you can count your cavities and know which one you are -- nor does it mean that if you have Metabolic Syndrome, you are necessarily a nonsecretor -- or that if you don't have it, you're a secretor. Again, these are associations rather than determinants.

There is a huge amount of info on secretor status in Live Right and the Encyclopedia which bears many re-readings. There are also a multitude of links on disease, etc., in the SCIENCE section of the front page (www.dadamo.com), as well as a nice thorough précis in the Knowledge Base (linked just to the left of this column).

Enjoy your research, and I hope this new information about yourself will be of great value to you! Keep me updated!! :-D

I saw that someone recently commented on getting swollen eyes from vinegar. I am a type B and sometimes get puffy eyes first thing in the morning. I do have pollen allergies, but tend to get this during the year and assumed it was due to having dry eyes (I live in Colorado and my eye doctor said dry eyes were common here) and if I exposed my face and eyes to direct heat, such as looking into an oven when I am cooking or barbecuing. However I also wondered if it had something to do with what I am eating. Do you know what it was about vinegar that gave the person writing to you the "frog eyes" as she called them? Thanks! Joyce

Hi there, Joyce ~~ Dehydration can cause puffy eyes, as can allergies to environmental substances and ingested foods. This is another good reason to stay FULLY hydrated (and get adequate minerals), especially in the hot months of the year, and to take Deflect as a precautionary measure if one's not absolutely certain of the ingredients of a particular meal. Hope you're doing well, dear! :-D

I'm wondering if you would be kind enough to explain something that I haven't understood in the material on avoids. What does "flocculates serum or precipitates serum proteins" mean? Assume you are speaking to an anatomical novice that needs the dots connected! I figured that "provokes abnormal blood reaction" referes to aglutination. Best wishes, Cyndi

Hey there, Cyndi! Sure, here goes.

Flocculates = coagulates. Coagulated serum is like when you have a wound, and the blood cells (along with mucus, white blood cells, etc.) coagulate to form a protective scab there. "Precipitates serum proteins" means that the nice whole little proteins in your blood "give up the ghost" and separate out of suspension from the liquid serum. If this is done in a test tube, the poor little bits end up all flaked out at the bottom, like dead autumn leaves. ;->

Dear Heidi, Nice to have you back! Just to share a useful discovery for A and B type coffee drinkers re soy milk:when you change from dairy to soy milk and find that with many brands your coffee is curdling in a most unaesthetic manner, try adding vegetable glycerine as your sweetner of choice BEFORE adding the soymilk.Problem solved. Also, I've been making soy yoghurt at home using full cream, best quality soymilk, and it comes out as a mildly sour creamy sauce that can be used in cooking and as a topping for everything that dairy yoghurt is used for. It also came up well as the creamy base of a tuna casserole.This is such a boon for the O type person in my family as otherwise she found herself breaking out of the diet to have some form of dairy product. Cheerio, Jenny

Ah, that's a nice one -- thanks, Jenny!! :-D Want to share your recipe/procedure for soy yoghurt when you have some extra time? It's something the O & AB secretors, B nons and all the As would much appreciate, I'm sure!! thanks in advance... very sweet of you!! :-D

Hi, and thanks for all the splendid supplementary research and advice. Another correspondent wrote a few months ago about using cherry juice as a glycogen replacement drink after strenuous exercise. I have adapted the principle and now use cherry juice as a sports drink while cycling and running. I mix 1/3 cherry to 2/3 water, and add sea salt. Not great for racing (empties too slowly) but superb for training and recovery. My question concerns the pesticides associated with cherries. I have a chart that list cherries as one of the most pesiticide-rich fruits. Given that it is almost impossible to get organic cherry juice out of season, are the benefits of drinking black cherry juice (Knudsen) greater than the risks associated with a high pesticide load? And do juices have a lot of pesticides? Thanks in advance. Nadine.

Allo, Nadine! Glad you're finding black cherry juice useful in your workouts!!

If organic cherry juice is tough to find there out of season, consider buying the whole frozen cherries (available year-round) from big producers like Cascadian Farms. They can be thawed, juiced, or just stuck in a blender and whizzed up with water to the desired dilution, then strained if you like. That said, I'm a big fan of buying up fresh organic cherries in season, then just pitting them & home-freezing (or vacuum-packing, or dehydrating) them for use later on. Buying up the juice and freezing it in serving-sized, flexible containers is another option. Pesticide-y fruit is something we'd all do well to steer clear of, so plan ahead and see what will work for you!

Nice Q! be well! :-)

Heidi, you have been so very helpful in the past so I'm hoping you can find it in your heart to respond to this one quickly as I have very little time. I leave for Spain in less than three weeks and I'm finally convinced after reading about it enough in your column that I should do a gall bladder flush before I go. I have visited www.sensiblehealth.com but am not sure if I need to do Step 1 (gold coin grass) and step 2 (intestinal cleansing) before doing step 3 which I have read so much about here, the actual olive oil/grapefruit juice flush. With so little time, what do you recommend I do? Thanks as always - you are out blood type angel :-) Dianne in L.A.

Hi, Dianne! OK -- Here are my opinions:

The GCG is an "excess of caution" measure for most of us. However, if your doc has found through a scan that you have Large stones, GCG would save you the (very rare) risk of getting a big one stuck in the bile duct and having to repeat the flush till you pass it (veddy upsetting and uncomfortable for most folks) or going to Emergency to get it removed. This is rare to the point of being a remote possibility, but it's something you would need to "make the call" on. I didn't use GCG, nor did the dozen or so friends who did the flush successfully. The apple juice was entirely sufficient (it softens the stones, whereas the GCG breaks them up). I didn't know I was a nonsecretor when I used the day-long apple juice method (fresh-juiced green Granny Smiths, diluted 50% with water), and as a therapeutic thing I'd say it's probably the best way to go even for O-nons as long as they don't mind an avoid used as a short-term (one-day) tool.

As to the intestinal cleansing, it's a nice thing to do -- but it's something I'd suggest only if you have persistent constipation, impaction, or some similar real trouble there. Otherwise, the flush itself cleans things out quite spectacularly. ;-)

So, if you can, go ahead with the process -- but not if you'd feel rushed & a tad stressed about it. If you take probiotics before, during & after the flush, things will return to normal pronto. Allow a week from the flush to the day you fly off on your trip -- and let me know how it goes for you, OK? :-) DO enjoy Spain!! :-D