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{{Short description|Regions of the world where people are claimed to live longer than average}}
{{Short description|Regions of the world where people are claimed to live longer than average}}
{{About||the band|Blue Zone (band)|the parking zone regulations|Disc parking|parts of the United States which vote majority Democrat|Red states and blue states}}
{{About||the band|Blue Zone (band)|the parking zone regulations|Disc parking|parts of the United States which vote majority Democrat|Red states and blue states}}
'''Blue zones''' are regions in the world where people are claimed to live, or to have recently lived, longer [[Life expectancy|than average]].<ref name=":0">Poulain, Michel; Herm,&nbsp;Anne; Pes,&nbsp;Gianni.&nbsp;[http://austriaca.at/0xc1aa500e_0x00307bb6.pdf The Blue Zones: areas of exceptional longevity around the world] in:&nbsp;Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, vol. 11, 2013, p.&nbsp;87–108. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200302043123/http://austriaca.at/0xc1aa500e_0x00307bb6.pdf backup] Quote: "...These populations succeeded in maintaining a traditional lifestyle implying an intense physical activity that extends beyond the age of 80, a reduced level of stress and intensive family and community support for their oldest olds as well as the consumption of locally produced food...Based on a strict validation method, the ages of Sardinian centenarians were thoroughly proven to be correct (Poulain et al. 2006)... [footnote 2:] The term was chosen simply because at the time the authors used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population... [definition:] In practice, a blue zone (BZ) is defined as a rather limited and homogenous geographical area where the population shares the same lifestyle and environment and its longevity has been proved to be exceptionally high. [] Other validated BZs have been found so far in Okinawa (Japan), on the Nicoya peninsula (Costa Rica) and on the island of Ikaria (Greece)...The extreme longevity area identified in Sardinia and named as Blue Zone (BZ) includes a group of 14 villages in Barbagia and Ogliastra, covering the highest mountain area of Sardinia.4...Starting from 2005, in cooperation with D. Buettner, a journalist writing for National Geographic, the BZ concept was extended to other relevant regions of the earth (Buettner 2012). Exceptional longevity at population level has been identified and validated so far in three other settings: the island of Okinawa in Japan, the peninsula of Nicoya in Costa Rica and the island of Ikaria in Greece (Figures 3)..."</ref>
'''Blue zones''' are regions in the world where people are claimed to live longer [[Life expectancy|than average]].<ref name="Poulain">Poulain, Michel; Herm,&nbsp;Anne; Pes,&nbsp;Gianni.&nbsp;[http://austriaca.at/0xc1aa500e_0x00307bb6.pdf The Blue Zones: areas of exceptional longevity around the world] in:&nbsp;Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, vol. 11, 2013, p.&nbsp;87–108. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200302043123/http://austriaca.at/0xc1aa500e_0x00307bb6.pdf backup] Quote: "...These populations succeeded in maintaining a traditional lifestyle implying an intense physical activity that extends beyond the age of 80, a reduced level of stress and intensive family and community support for their oldest olds as well as the consumption of locally produced food...Based on a strict validation method, the ages of Sardinian centenarians were thoroughly proven to be correct (Poulain et al. 2006)... [footnote 2:] The term was chosen simply because at the time the authors used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population... [definition:] In practice, a blue zone (BZ) is defined as a rather limited and homogenous geographical area where the population shares the same lifestyle and environment and its longevity has been proved to be exceptionally high. [] Other validated BZs have been found so far in Okinawa (Japan), on the Nicoya peninsula (Costa Rica) and on the island of Ikaria (Greece)...The extreme longevity area identified in Sardinia and named as Blue Zone (BZ) includes a group of 14 villages in Barbagia and Ogliastra, covering the highest mountain area of Sardinia.4...Starting from 2005, in cooperation with D. Buettner, a journalist writing for National Geographic, the BZ concept was extended to other relevant regions of the earth (Buettner 2012). Exceptional longevity at population level has been identified and validated so far in three other settings: the island of Okinawa in Japan, the peninsula of Nicoya in Costa Rica and the island of Ikaria in Greece (Figures 3)..."</ref> Examples of blue zones include [[Okinawa Prefecture]], Japan, [[Province of Nuoro|Nuoro Province]], [[Sardinia]], Italy, the [[Nicoya Peninsula]], Costa Rica, and [[Icaria]], Greece.<ref name="Poulain" /> The name "blue zones" derived simply during the original survey by scientists who "used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population."<ref name=Poulain/>


The concept of blue zones having exceptional longevity has been challenged by the absence of scientific proof,<ref name=hall/> and by the substantial decline of life expectancy during the [[21st century]] in an original proposed blue zone, Okinawa.<ref name=hokama/>
Examples of blue zones include [[Okinawa Prefecture]], Japan; [[Province of Nuoro|Nuoro Province]], [[Sardinia]], Italy; the [[Nicoya Peninsula]], Costa Rica; and [[Icaria]], Greece.<ref name=":0" />


==History==
==History==
[[File:Old Sardinian Man.jpg|thumbnail|right|An elderly [[Sardinians|Sardinian]] man]]
[[File:Old Sardinian Man.jpg|thumbnail|right|An elderly [[Sardinians|Sardinian]] man]]
The concept of blue zones resulted from [[Demography|demographic]] work done by Gianni Pes and [[Michel Poulain]], published in 2004.<ref name="poul13">{{Cite journal|display-authors=3|last1=Poulain|first1=Michel|last2=Pes|first2=Giovanni Mario|last3=Grasland|first3=Claude|last4=Carru|first4=Ciriaco|last5=Ferrucci|first5=Luigi|last6=Baggio|first6=Giovannella|last7=Franceschi|first7=Claudio|last8=Deiana|first8=Luca|date=2004-09-01|title=Identification of a geographic area characterized by extreme longevity in the Sardinia island: the AKEA study|journal=[[Experimental Gerontology]]|volume=39|issue=9|pages=1423–1429|doi=10.1016/j.exger.2004.06.016|pmid=15489066|s2cid=21362479|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00175541/file/2004%20POULAIN%20BZ%20EXP%20GERONT.pdf|access-date=2019-09-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107022251/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00175541/file/2004%20POULAIN%20BZ%20EXP%20GERONT.pdf|archive-date=2020-01-07|url-status=live}}</ref> They identified [[Sardinia]]'s [[Nuoro province|Nuoro Province]] as the region with the highest concentration of male [[centenarian]]s, referring to the area as the "blue zone" (a term was chosen because the authors used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population).<ref name=:0/><ref name=poul13/>
The concept of blue zones resulted from [[Demography|demographic]] work done by Gianni Pes and [[Michel Poulain]], published in 2004.<ref name="poulain-2004">{{Cite journal|display-authors=3|last1=Poulain|first1=Michel|last2=Pes|first2=Giovanni Mario|last3=Grasland|first3=Claude|last4=Carru|first4=Ciriaco|last5=Ferrucci|first5=Luigi|last6=Baggio|first6=Giovannella|last7=Franceschi|first7=Claudio|last8=Deiana|first8=Luca|date=2004-09-01|title=Identification of a geographic area characterized by extreme longevity in the Sardinia island: the AKEA study|journal=[[Experimental Gerontology]]|volume=39|issue=9|pages=1423–1429|doi=10.1016/j.exger.2004.06.016|pmid=15489066|s2cid=21362479|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00175541/file/2004%20POULAIN%20BZ%20EXP%20GERONT.pdf|access-date=2019-09-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107022251/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00175541/file/2004%20POULAIN%20BZ%20EXP%20GERONT.pdf|archive-date=2020-01-07|url-status=live}}</ref> They identified [[Sardinia]]'s [[Nuoro province|Nuoro Province]] as the region with the highest concentration of male [[centenarian]]s, referring to the area as the "blue zone" (a term was chosen because the authors used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population).<ref name="Poulain"/><ref name="poulain-2004"/>


Building on this demographic work, [[Dan Buettner]] proposed four additional locations: [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]], [[Nicoya Peninsula|Nicoya]], [[Icaria]], and [[Loma Linda, California|Loma Linda]].<ref name=time/>
Building on this demographic work, [[Dan Buettner]] proposed four additional locations: [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]], [[Nicoya Peninsula|Nicoya]], [[Icaria]], and [[Loma Linda, California|Loma Linda]].


== Zones ==
== Zones ==
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}}


Scholarly work<ref name=":0" /> identified four areas as blue zones:
A 2013 study proposed four areas as blue zones:<ref name="Poulain" />
*[[Province of Nuoro|Nuoro Province]], [[Sardinia]], Italy
*[[Province of Nuoro|Nuoro Province]], [[Sardinia]], Italy
*[[Okinawa Prefecture]], Japan
*[[Okinawa Prefecture]], Japan
*[[Nicoya Peninsula]], Costa Rica
*[[Nicoya Peninsula]], Costa Rica
*[[Icaria]], Greece
*[[Icaria]], Greece

[[Loma Linda, California|Loma Linda]], California, United States, is included in lists in prominent work by [[Dan Buettner]], author and founder of Blue Zones LLC, and subsequent popular press, which sometimes notes the Seventh-Day Adventist community there.<ref name=time/> Blue Zones LLC is now owned by the Seventh-Day Adventist health care non-profit, [[Adventist Health]].<ref>https://www.adventisthealth.org/blog/2020/april/adventist-health-acquires-blue-zones-as-part-of-/</ref>
===Marketing===
[[Loma Linda, California|Loma Linda]], California, United States, is included as a blue zone by Dan Buettner, founder of the marketing company, Blue Zones LLC, and subsequent popular press, which described the [[Seventh-Day Adventist]] community there as having unusual longevity due putatively to a healthy lifestyle and [[plant-based diet]].<ref name="mikhail">{{cite web |author1=Alexa Mikhail |title=A look inside America’s only blue zone city—home to some of the world’s longest-living people |url=https://fortune.com/well/2023/04/02/longevity-tips-loma-linda-california-blue-zone-city/ |publisher=Fortune |access-date=2 January 2024 |date=2 April 2023}}</ref> As of 2020, Blue Zones LCC was acquired by the Seventh-Day Adventist health care system, [[Adventist Health]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.adventisthealth.org/blog/2020/april/adventist-health-acquires-blue-zones-as-part-of-/|title=Adventist Health acquires Blue Zones as part of transformation into catalyst for overall community health and wellbeing|date=8 April 2020|accessdate=2 January 2024|publisher=Adventist Health}}</ref>


==Scientific reception==
==Scientific reception==
A study of claimed longevity in Okinawa was unable to verify whether or not residents were as old as they claimed because many records did not survive [[World War II]].<ref name="PoulainM_(2011)">{{Cite journal|last=Poulain |first=Michel |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227409038 |title=Exceptional Longevity in Okinawa:: A Plea for In-depth Validation |date=2011-07-21 |journal=[[Demographic Research (journal)|Demographic Research]] |volume=25 |issue=7 |pages=245–284 |doi=10.4054/DemRes.2011.25.7|doi-access=free }}</ref> When analyzed in the 21st century, life expectancy in Okinawa was deemed to no longer be exceptional when compared to the rest of Japan, as "male longevity is now ranked 26th among the 47 [[Prefectures_of_Japan |prefectures]] of Japan."<ref name="HokamaT_(2008)">{{Cite journal |last1=Hokama |first=Tomiko |title=Declining longevity advantage and low birthweight in Okinawa |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26299015_Declining_longevity_advantage_and_low_birthweight_in_Okinawa |journal=[[Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health]] |volume=20 Suppl |pages=95–101 |year=October 2008 |pmid=19533867 |last2=Binns |first2=Colin |author-link2=Colin Binns}}</ref>
A study of claimed longevity in Okinawa was unable to verify whether or not residents were as old as they claimed because many records did not survive [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Poulain |first=Michel |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227409038 |title=Exceptional Longevity in Okinawa:: A Plea for In-depth Validation |date=2011-07-21 |journal=[[Demographic Research (journal)|Demographic Research]] |volume=25 |issue=7 |pages=245–284 |doi=10.4054/DemRes.2011.25.7|doi-access=free }}</ref> When analyzed in the 21st century, life expectancy in Okinawa was deemed to no longer be exceptional when compared to the rest of Japan, as "male longevity is now ranked 26th among the 47 [[Prefectures_of_Japan |prefectures]] of Japan."<ref name="hokama">{{Cite journal |last1=Hokama |first=Tomiko |title=Declining longevity advantage and low birthweight in Okinawa |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26299015_Declining_longevity_advantage_and_low_birthweight_in_Okinawa |journal=[[Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health]] |volume=20 Suppl |pages=95–101 |year=October 2008 |pmid=19533867 |last2=Binns |first2=Colin |author-link2=Colin Binns}}</ref>


[[Harriet Hall]], writing for ''[[Science-Based Medicine]]'', stated that there are no controlled studies of elderly people in the blue zones, and the blue zone diets are based on speculation, not solid science.<ref name="HallH_(2021)">Hall, Harriet. (2021). [https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/blue-zones-diet-speculation-based-on-misinformation/ "Blue Zones Diet: Speculation Based on Misinformation"]. Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 15 October 2021.</ref>
[[Harriet Hall]], writing for ''[[Science-Based Medicine]]'', stated that there are no controlled studies of elderly people in the blue zones, and the blue zone diets are based on speculation, not solid science.<ref name="hall">Hall, Harriet. (2021). [https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/blue-zones-diet-speculation-based-on-misinformation/ "Blue Zones Diet: Speculation Based on Misinformation"]. Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 15 October 2021.</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 19:53, 2 January 2024

For the band, see Blue Zone (band). For the parking zone regulations, see Disc parking. For parts of the United States which vote majority Democrat, see Red states and blue states.

Blue zones are regions in the world where people are claimed to live longer than average.[1] Examples of blue zones include Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, Nuoro Province, Sardinia, Italy, the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, and Icaria, Greece.[1] The name "blue zones" derived simply during the original survey by scientists who "used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population."[1]

The concept of blue zones having exceptional longevity has been challenged by the absence of scientific proof,[2] and by the substantial decline of life expectancy during the 21st century in an original proposed blue zone, Okinawa.[3]

History

An elderly Sardinian man

The concept of blue zones resulted from demographic work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, published in 2004.[4] They identified Sardinia's Nuoro Province as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians, referring to the area as the "blue zone" (a term was chosen because the authors used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population).[1][4]

Building on this demographic work, Dan Buettner proposed four additional locations: Okinawa, Nicoya, Icaria, and Loma Linda.

Zones

Blue zone is located in Earth
Sardinia
Sardinia
Nicoya
Nicoya
Icaria
Icaria
Loma Linda
Loma Linda
Okinawa
Okinawa
class=notpageimage|
Notable blue zones

A 2013 study proposed four areas as blue zones:[1]

Marketing

Loma Linda, California, United States, is included as a blue zone by Dan Buettner, founder of the marketing company, Blue Zones LLC, and subsequent popular press, which described the Seventh-Day Adventist community there as having unusual longevity due putatively to a healthy lifestyle and plant-based diet.[5] As of 2020, Blue Zones LCC was acquired by the Seventh-Day Adventist health care system, Adventist Health.[6]

Scientific reception

A study of claimed longevity in Okinawa was unable to verify whether or not residents were as old as they claimed because many records did not survive World War II.[7] When analyzed in the 21st century, life expectancy in Okinawa was deemed to no longer be exceptional when compared to the rest of Japan, as "male longevity is now ranked 26th among the 47 prefectures of Japan."[3]

Harriet Hall, writing for Science-Based Medicine, stated that there are no controlled studies of elderly people in the blue zones, and the blue zone diets are based on speculation, not solid science.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Poulain, Michel; Herm, Anne; Pes, Gianni. The Blue Zones: areas of exceptional longevity around the world in: Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, vol. 11, 2013, p. 87–108. backup Quote: "...These populations succeeded in maintaining a traditional lifestyle implying an intense physical activity that extends beyond the age of 80, a reduced level of stress and intensive family and community support for their oldest olds as well as the consumption of locally produced food...Based on a strict validation method, the ages of Sardinian centenarians were thoroughly proven to be correct (Poulain et al. 2006)... [footnote 2:] The term was chosen simply because at the time the authors used a blue pen on a map to mark the villages with long-lived population... [definition:] In practice, a blue zone (BZ) is defined as a rather limited and homogenous geographical area where the population shares the same lifestyle and environment and its longevity has been proved to be exceptionally high. [] Other validated BZs have been found so far in Okinawa (Japan), on the Nicoya peninsula (Costa Rica) and on the island of Ikaria (Greece)...The extreme longevity area identified in Sardinia and named as Blue Zone (BZ) includes a group of 14 villages in Barbagia and Ogliastra, covering the highest mountain area of Sardinia.4...Starting from 2005, in cooperation with D. Buettner, a journalist writing for National Geographic, the BZ concept was extended to other relevant regions of the earth (Buettner 2012). Exceptional longevity at population level has been identified and validated so far in three other settings: the island of Okinawa in Japan, the peninsula of Nicoya in Costa Rica and the island of Ikaria in Greece (Figures 3)..."
  2. ^ a b Hall, Harriet. (2021). "Blue Zones Diet: Speculation Based on Misinformation". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b Hokama, Tomiko; Binns, Colin (October 2008). "Declining longevity advantage and low birthweight in Okinawa". Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health. 20 Suppl: 95–101. PMID 19533867.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  4. ^ a b Poulain, Michel; Pes, Giovanni Mario; Grasland, Claude; et al. (2004-09-01). "Identification of a geographic area characterized by extreme longevity in the Sardinia island: the AKEA study" (PDF). Experimental Gerontology. 39 (9): 1423–1429. doi:10.1016/j.exger.2004.06.016. PMID 15489066. S2CID 21362479. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-01-07. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  5. ^ Alexa Mikhail (2 April 2023). "A look inside America's only blue zone city—home to some of the world's longest-living people". Fortune. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Adventist Health acquires Blue Zones as part of transformation into catalyst for overall community health and wellbeing". Adventist Health. 8 April 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  7. ^ Poulain, Michel (2011-07-21). "Exceptional Longevity in Okinawa:: A Plea for In-depth Validation". Demographic Research. 25 (7): 245–284. doi:10.4054/DemRes.2011.25.7.

Further reading

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