Nutrition for blood type unproven

Dear Dr. Gott: Please speak about the benefits or disadvantages of eating right for your blood type. I recently purchased the book “Eat Right 4 Your Type” by Peter J. D’Adamo (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996). Is there any validity to this, or is it a bunch of bull?

Dear Reader: While I hesitate to be insensitive enough to characterize the relationship of nutrition to blood type as “a bunch of bull,” medical studies have yet to show that there is any value in this concept. Discuss this issue with your family doctor, who can offer you more sound, less bovine advice.

Dear Dr. Gott: My husband nearly died during his open-heart surgery. That’s when our sex life died, too. He has to take those nitrate medicines, prescribed by the cardiologist, so he can’t use Viagra.

At the big chain drugstore we patronize, they have a whole section of “Men’s Sexual Fitness Formulas” – Cobra, Natural Aphrodesia, Arginmax, Rekindle, Largranine, V-power, Virile l, Colossal, Enzyte, Maca and Horney Goat Weed. None of them have any warning on the label, so I’m wondering if it is safe for him to take any of them.

Dear Reader: It’s probably safe for your husband to try a nonprescription herbal remedy, but I doubt that it will help. I believe he would be better served by checking with a urologist for further analysis and advice. There may be appropriate options other than Viagra and similar medications.

To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Erectile Dysfunction.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.

Dear Dr. Gott: I would like your opinion as to whether I am overreacting in regard to old lead pipes in our condo building (a summer residence).

You have previously stated that the Romans clarified their wine with lead, and it greatly worsened their arthritis.

How much lead would have to leach into drinking water to feel the affects? I swear after a summer in our condo my arthritis pain is definitely worsened.

Dear Reader: I do not know how much lead in your drinking water is enough to cause saturnine gout, the problem with ancient lead-contaminated wines. But I do know that ingested lead may lead to medical complications such as brain damage. Therefore, my position with respect to lead in your drinking water is that you should have it tested by the appropriate local authorities. Unlike swordfish, salmon and other seafood that contains lead, your drinking water should be free of the mineral.

If your condo was built before the dangers of lead were appreciated, the water in the lead pipes may be seriously contaminated.