Live Blood Analysis by Naturopath

Our local health food store had a visiting Naturopath set up today to do live blood analysis. I thought it would be interesting, and possibly informative so I signed up. I got some results I didn't expect and I'm wondering what your take on this might be.

Basically, he has a big microscope hooked up to a monitor. He takes a sample of blood by pricking the finger and then puts it on the monitor and does a visual analysis in order to make recommendations. He also has an array of pictures on a board behind him that shows blood with various conditions.

I have been doing the high fat (although I'm still not eating as much fat as recommended), low carb diet for 6-8 weeks now so I was interested in learning any other blood conditions I might have. I am blood type A+ and the bottom line was that he said that my blood indicated I wasn't digesting my food well (particularly the protein) and told me because of my blood type (he is a big blood type diet proponent apparently) that it was obvious that beef and pork and ox bile was not good for me and that I should eat chicken and fish and turkey. I am still fairly confident in the low carb / high fat diet because it has made a huge difference in my quality of life in the last 2 months, but I'm open to adjustments. However, I don't know enough about this in-depth to determine if there is any thing I should act on, so if you have any feedback I would be greatful. Below are the details of the results he told me (I'm copying them off a paper he gave me that he filled in) and a picture of my blood on the screen that I took with my cell phone.

Quoting from the paper:

I show "Protein Linkage" - a condition that gives clues that the body is having a difficult time digesting the protein that is ingested.

I have a lot of "Rouleau" - A sticking together of red blood cells which can be caused by physical or mental stress. Rouleau results in the poor circulation of the blood and therefore decreases the amounts of oxygen and nutrients available for the body to use. This condition results in fatigue and weakness. Best evaluated after tapping away the electro-static glass charge that over rides discovering the true negative charge of the clients red cells. (no clue what this last part means).

Also show "Erythrocyte Aggregation" tied to Rouleau - Sometimes called "blood sludge". This process is obviously worse than the rouleau formation. Saturated fat and abnormal protein causes the red cells to stick together, causing poor circulation. Best evaluated after tapping the cover slip with a pencil to reduce the electro-static charge between the two pieces of glass close together. (maybe the electro comments are meant for the practitioner.

I have a moderate amount of "Mycoplasma" - Under Brightfield and Phase Contrast they show up as small dark circules either out in the blood rserum or on or withing the red blood cell. Usually the red blood cell will be suffering from Poikilocytosis. These microorganisms often develop inside the cell and can contribute to hundreds of diseases, mental as well as physical.

I have a lot of "Poikilocytosis" - Deformed red blood cells that show antioxidant deficiency and/or liver conditions, or heavy metais. (I did a hair lab test a couple of years ago that didn't show heave metals and I take lots of antioxidant supplementations. Not sure about the liver. I take the milk thistle extract to help it out but I have had low liver function as measured by a regular MD in the past - maybe 5 years ago).

And finally the picture. Sorry for the quality but I had to take a pic of the CRT with my cell phone:

gaman said:

I am still fairly confident in the low carb / high fat diet because it has made a huge difference in my quality of life in the last 2 months, but I'm open to adjustments.

Click to expand...

I would suggest that you pay MUCH more attention to your own experience and the improvement in the quality of your life in the last 2 months than you pay to some naturopath giving away free advice at a health food store. My two cents...

My intentions are in line with your 2 cents :) I haven't planned to change anything but I will admit that I'm somewhat startled that my blood looked quite different than any pictures I have found. As for the "free advice", I paid for the analysis (not much) because I thought it involved more than just looking at the cells

gaman said:

My intentions are in line with your 2 cents :) I haven't planned to change anything but I will admit that I'm somewhat startled that my blood looked quite different than any pictures I have found. As for the "free advice", I paid for the analysis (not much) because I thought it involved more than just looking at the cells

Click to expand...

Well, I'm no doctor, so maybe others have a different take on the blood cell picture.

This is just my opinion, but my guess is that you would have to take it to a doctor who understands the dynamics involved for those doing a ketogenic diet. A ketogenic metabolism may provide a completely different context to read the results. If someone is reading your results from the context of a 'sugar-burner', then the interpretation could be way off.

Also, just a guess that only being on the diet for 6-8 weeks wouldn't be long enough for true changes in your blood. Six to eight months might be a lot more interesting (if there is any validity to this kind of screening), perhaps.

Gaman, there was a discussion in the Life Without Bread thread about live blood analysis. If you want to have a look, you can start at this post from Psyche, and then scroll down for the subsequent discussion.

Rhiannon said:

Also, just a guess that only being on the diet for 6-8 weeks wouldn't be long enough for true changes in your blood. Six to eight months might be a lot more interesting (if there is any validity to this kind of screening), perhaps.

Click to expand...

I think so to. 6 to 8 weeks is a really short amount of time. It can be relevant to check how your blood changes as you adapt to the diet, but bear in mind that it does take quite some time to fully adapt. Some paleo doctors even mention time frames of more then one year.
I also remember from Dr. Lutz's book (Life without Bread) that when patients were tested, changes were observable even a couple of years after having started the diet.

anart said:

gaman said:

My intentions are in line with your 2 cents :) I haven't planned to change anything but I will admit that I'm somewhat startled that my blood looked quite different than any pictures I have found. As for the "free advice", I paid for the analysis (not much) because I thought it involved more than just looking at the cells

Click to expand...

Well, I'm no doctor, so maybe others have a different take on the blood cell picture.

Click to expand...

I investigated in a few years ago in reference to my dad's health, and discovered it is probably a bunch of hooey.

Well Psyche's take on it in the link posted by Gertrudes was that it's pretty subjective and hard to suss out if there's anything meaningful in these "Live Blood Analyses," in particular with the whole issue of eating uncured pork that's not marinated in an acidic medium. I have been marinating my pork burgers and chops and roasts, etc. though, just figure I got nothing to lose and it probably makes it easier to digest / less energy resources needed for maximum assimilation. But that's just my speculation....

Thank you all for your responses. I'm only on page 55 or so of the Life without Bread topic so I'm playing catchup and trying to stay at the leading edge as well :)

I might check it again in 6 months or so just out of curiosity, but since nobody here sees any cause for concern then I'm not going to pursue further serious interest in this picture.