'Blue Zones' gives tips for long life
MINNEAPOLIS -- If you are looking for a Fountain of Youth, forget pills and diet supplements.
Adventurer Dan Buettner has visited four spots on the globe where people live into their 90s and 100s and outlines how they add years of good life in his new book, The Blue Zones.
The answer, Buettner said, includes smaller food portions, an active lifestyle and moderate drinking.
"If someone tells you they have a pill or hormone (that extends life), you're about to lose money," Buettner said.
Buettner identifies four hot spots of longevity: the mountainous Barbagia region of Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy; the Japanese island of Okinawa; a community of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, Calif., about 60 miles east of Los Angeles; and the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, in Central America.
(The term "Blue Zones" takes its name from the blue ink Belgian demographer Michel Poulain used to circle an area of long-living Sardinians on a map.)
What Buettner found in his seven years of research and travel were common denominators among the vigorous super-elderly -- close family relationships, a sense of purpose, healthy eating habits. He distills them into what he calls the Power Nine that readers can use to create their own Blue Zone.
"Picking half a dozen things off of this a la carte menu and sticking to it is probably worth eight to 10 (extra) years for the average American. And you'll look younger and feel younger on the way," said Buettner, a tall and lean 48-year-old who said he hopes to live until at least 100.
Living long -- even forever -- is a human desire throughout history, said Dr. Robert Butler, president and CEO of the International Longevity Center-USA in New York. But Butler said he's skeptical of claims of places of long-living people.
"There's always been these rumors, but they've always turned out to be inaccurate," said Butler, who appears in The Blue Zones but has not read it.
Buettner is aware of the skepticism, but says he and his team of demographers, which included Poulain, scrupulously checked birth and death records and vetted the ages of Blue Zone residents in his book.
"We have the numerical data that shows that these places (in The Blue Zones) are living longer. It's not just anecdotal," Buettner said.
Buettner found long-lived people have a sense of purpose and a strong support network. In Okinawa, women gather in social networks known as moais.
"Even at age 100, they're all getting together in their moai ... at 5 o'clock every day," he said. "They sit around, they drink a couple glasses of sake, they gossip, they talk about sex. If one doesn't show up to the afternoon gathering, the other four sort of hobble over to see if she's fallen down or if she needs help."
On the Net
www.bluezones.com
www.nationalgeographic.com