Blue Zones are regions of the world where Dan Buettner claims people live much longer than average. The term first appeared in his November 2005 National Geographic magazine cover story, "The Secrets of a Long Life". Buettner identified five regions as "Blue Zones" : Okinawa ; Sardinia ; Nicoya ; Icaria ; and among the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California. He offers an explanation, based on data and first hand observations, for why these populations live healthier and longer lives than others. The concept grew out of demographic work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain outlined in the Journal of Experimental Gerontology, who identified Sardinia's Nuoro province as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians. As the two men zeroed in on the cluster of villages with the highest longevity, they drew concentric blue circles on the map and began referring to the area inside the circle as the "Blue Zone". Together with demographers Pes and Poulain, Buettner broadened the term, applying it to validated longevity areas of Okinawa, Japan and among the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California. Buettner and Poulain, under the aegis of National Geographic, then identified and validated longevity hotspots in Nicoya, Costa Rica and Icaria, Greece.
Blue Zones
The five regions that are identified in the book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest are:
Sardinia, Italy : One team of demographers found a hot spot of longevity in mountain villages where a substantial proportion of men reach 100. In particular, a village called Seulo, located in the Barbagia of Seulo, holds the record of 20 centenarians from 1996 to 2016, that confirms it is "the place where people live the longest in the world".
The islands of Okinawa, Japan: Another team examined a group that is among the longest-lived on Earth.
Loma Linda, California: Researchers studied a group of Seventh-day Adventists who rank among North America's longest-lived people.
Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica: The peninsula was the subject of research on a Quest Network expedition which began on January 29, 2007.
Icaria, Greece: An April 2009 study on the island of Icaria uncovered the location with the highest percentage of 90-year-olds on the planet, where nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s. Furthermore, Icarians "have about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia."
Residents of these places produce a high rate of centenarians, suffer a fraction of the diseases that commonly kill people in other parts of the developed world, and enjoy more years of good health.
Characteristics
The people inhabiting Blue Zones share common lifestyle characteristics that contribute to their longevity. The Venn diagram highlights the following six shared characteristics among the people of Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda Blue Zones: Though not a lifestyle choice, they live as isolated populations with related gene pool.
Family – put ahead of other concerns
Less smoking
Semi-vegetarianism – the majority of food consumed is derived from plants
Based on research results in the fields of biogerontology, epigenetics and naturopathy, the term Blue Zones is also used for areas whose native flora grows under special conditions and can effectively counteract the aging process. Such mostly high-altitude areas are located in Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet or China. The Swissresearch group Bluezones in cooperation with the Forschungsgruppe Haslberger of the University of Vienna focuses on secondary plant substances from such areas, which could have a use in the area of anti-aging, neurodegenerative diseases and geriatric diseases. In 1998, the Swiss group dealt with the eating habits of the population of Yuzurihara, where the inhabitants grew very old with the best quality of life. Longevity regions are also being studied in China. Another research group of the University of California in collaboration with the University of Rome La Sapienza is investigating temporal bluezones in Italy outside Sardinia.
Criticism
A 2019 preprint study by Saul Justin Newman identified an alternative correlation between the number of claimed centenarians and a lack of birth certificates in that region, and posits that "fraud and error" could play a primary role in the designation of Blue Zones.
