Have you ever heard of “Blue Zones”?
These parts of the world are known for having citizens who live extremely long and healthy lives.
Some of these locations may sound familiar:
Okinawa, Japan (home of Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid!). Sardinia, Italy. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. Icaria, Greece.
These areas have a higher percentage of people living longer because of their local whole food diet, high vegetable consumption, low incidence of disease, rich social interactions, low stress and lots of physical activity.
Books, documentaries, and countless newspaper articles have championed these societies, and millions and millions of health-conscious individuals have shaped their lifestyles around how these people live.
There is only one problem with this amazing story.
That’s actually not true.
First Ig Nobel Prize for Demography
Last month Dr. Saul Justin Newman received the first “Ig Nobel Prize” for demography.
These awards are presented annually for scientific research that “makes people laugh and then think.”
For this special award, Newman was recognized for debunking almost all of the findings of any study related to the Blue Zones.
Here is what dr. Newman discovered:
“The highest rates of reaching extreme old age are predicted by high poverty, lack of birth certificates and fewer 90-year-olds.
Poverty and the pressure to commit pension fraud have proven to be excellent predictors of reaching 100+ in a way that is ‘contrary to rational expectation’.”
It turns out that most of the “very old, healthy” individuals in those blue zones are simply the result very poorly kept records, pension fraud and outright lying.
Let’s see what’s really going on in Okinawa:
“Despite vegetables and sweet potatoes being touted as key components of the Okinawan ‘Blue Zone’ diet, according to the Japanese government, Okinawans eat the fewest vegetables and sweet potatoes in Japan and have the highest body mass index.”
ooooof. Well, what the hell are we going to do now!?
Beware of anecdotal stories that promise drama
Spend enough time on social media and you’ll come across people telling you to eat only meat, cut out carbs completely, how “this supplement saved their life” or that XYZ cured their illness and so on.
These anecdotal stories, especially when they have a villain, a victim, and a heroic story of overcoming adversity, are incredibly powerful. They are also often used to sell you a solution in pill or powder form.
The good news is that we are constantly improving data in science.
We don’t actually we need to know what the people of Okinawa eat, nor do we need to study the daily habits of a certain community in Costa Rica.
Don’t get me wrong, I too love a good wacky story about the habits of a faraway land, but it still comes back to reality and science!
And we can remember to do what is best for our specific situation. This could include therapymay include weight loss medicineit may involve just focusing on sleep right now!
That’s up to us to decide and we can do it with confidence. Not because it’s happening in Costa Rica or Greece, but simply because it’s what’s best for us.
Here are some of the ways we can positively influence our life expectancy and/or health.
Yes, some of these things are part of the “child blue zone”… just without the sensationalism and pension scams.
And many of them could be out of our control!
For example, social determinants of health (financial stability, access to health care, education, our neighborhood) are strongly associated with all-cause mortality, and many of these things may be out of reach for large segments of the population.
Life is messy
I don’t mention all of this to tell you to avoid the Blue Zone diet.
Heck, you could do a lot worse than the Mediterranean diet! Of course you’re most likely to lose weight and feel healthier if you eat mostly fresh fish, whole foods, and vegetables.
I bring all this up to remind you that life is messy.
A long healthy life is a combination of dozens of interconnected things (like those mentioned above), thousands of decisions made during life, plus things like genetics, society and luck! What works for one person may not work for another, and there is no “one size fits all” diet for our problems.
We could get hit by a bus tomorrow, be diagnosed with cancer despite “doing everything right”, or experience a a freak accident that changes everything next week.
So instead of chasing immortality through sensationalist anecdotes or getting caught up in the latest social media trend…
We can keep our focus on things that we’re damn sure will make tomorrow better than today.
Like the things on the list above! Now excuse me, I’m going to do some push-ups, eat some vegetables and take a quick walk while I call a friend.
-Steve
PS Tip to my friend Jodi Ettenberg, whose heartbreakingly powerful story of acceptance I linked above. It was her newsletter that led me to this article!
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