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Want to lead a long life? Play pickleball and have sex. Who says so? Dan Buettner, a guy who knows something about longevity. After all, he is responsible for popularizing the concept of “blue zones,” regions of the world where people apparently have exceptionally long lives. And therein lies an interesting and somewhat controversial story.
It all starts with a 2024 paper by physician Giovanni Pes and demographer Michel Poulain about their investigation of longevity on the Italian island of Sardinia. Here, they had believed, was an ideal place to study the link between lifestyle and aging because of the population’s relative isolation and lack of genetic diversity. Pes and Poulain toured the island in search of centenarians whose age could be properly documented and marked their homes on a map with a blue dot. They discovered that the dots were clustered in what came to be known as “blue zones,” indicating regions of unusual longevity. Aside from noting that the zones were in mountainous areas, they were unable to shed light on any other associations.
Pes and Poulain’s work came to the attention of journalist Dan Buettner, who had developed an interest in longevity after being invited by the Japanese government to investigate why the island of Okinawa seemed to have an unusual number of very old people. He found that this was indeed the case, and in 2005 wrote an article in National Geographic titled “The Secrets of Long Life” in which he seductively asked “what if I said you could add up to 10 years to your life?”
Buettner described his interviews with about 50 centenarians in Okinawa, Sardinia and in the Seventh-day Adventist community of Loma Linda, reputed to have the longest life expectancy in the U.S. Buettner’s story is filled with anecdotes such as that of Marge Jetton, the 101-year-old Adventist who picked him up in a car after a morning of lifting weights, walking a mile and polishing off a breakfast of oatmeal. (Marge eventually died at 106, by which time the mention of oatmeal in the article had helped boost it into the “superfood” category.) He described Sardinian shepherds trekking up mountains and feasting on zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and fava beans. In Okinawa, 103-year-old Ushi had chuckled about putting on perfume because she had a new boyfriend.
Riding the interest generated by the National Geographic article, Buettner decided to take a deeper dive into blue zones and partnered with Pes and Poulain to explore other regions as possible candidates. Nicoya, Costa Rica and the Greek island of Ikaria eventually made the cut. Did these populations have any lifestyle features in common? The team, bolstered by additional demographers, epidemiologists and anthropologists, eventually came up with characteristics shared by residents of “blue zones,” a term that Buettner trademarked.
Diet was of obvious interest, and centenarian diets turned out to be mostly vegetarian with a preponderance of beans. Meat, mostly pork, was eaten only about five times a month. The last meal of the day tended to be early evening, with no more food consumed till next morning. Okinawan centenarians largely followed the Confucian mantra of “eating only until the stomach is 80 per cent full.” People in blue zones, except for Adventists, also consumed one or two alcoholic drinks a day, although their longevity would seem to be in spite this, not because of it. Alcohol is a known carcinogen, and current scientific advice is that “less is more.”
Physical activity was found to be an unquestionable common factor, but people in blue zones get their exercise through physical labour, walking and gardening, not by joining gyms. They follow the “early to bed, early to rise” philosophy and tend to get at least eight hours of sleep. Most have strong social networks, belong to some faith-based community and regularly attend services, although which particular faith they follow seems to make no difference. Families are very important, meals are not eaten on the run, processed foods are not part of the diet, and seniors are cared for at home by their children.
Can what has been learned from blue zones be applied to western societies? Buettner thinks so. He founded “Blue Zones LLC,” a company “dedicated to creating healthy communities across the U.S.” and has even offered cooking courses inspired by diets in blue zones. To test if lifestyle interventions based on blue zone habits can indeed increase longevity, Buettner’s company designed an experiment in Albert Lea, a Minnesota town of about 9,000 inhabitants. Walking paths were built, restaurants had to offer at least three plant-based entrees, students were prohibited from eating in hallways and classrooms, and grocery stores replaced candies and sodas at checkout counters with fruit snacks and water. As a result, health-care costs dropped, pounds were shed, and there was a three-year bump in life expectancy.
It is always telling to see how researchers incorporate their findings into their own lives. So, what about Buettner? He drinks coffee, commenting that in most blue zones this is a common beverage. He doesn’t eat meat, shuns processed food and is the self-appointed “king of beans,” maintaining that people in blue zones eat a cup of beans a day. This, he claims, without evidence, is associated with an extra four years of life expectancy.
Buettner doesn’t go to the gym but bicycles and plays a lot of pickleball. While not exactly a blue zone sport, he says that in addition to exercise, it is great for encouraging social interaction to counter loneliness. And then there is sex. He claims that people who have sex at least twice per week have about half the rate of mortality as people who aren’t getting it at all. I think we will let that one go without asking for evidence, and without mentioning that mortality is 100 per cent and cannot be halved.
Given that living longer is generally a desirable goal, it is no surprise that books about blue zones have been bestsellers. Buettner’s work even sparked a Netflix series. And some controversy as well. Dr. Saul Newman of the University College of London’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies sees red when he hears of blue zones. He believes they do not really exist. Newman claims that poor record keeping, absence of birth certificates and pension fraud actually account for the supposed longevity. Needless to say, the criticism has been criticized.
Without getting into a battle about the validity of blue zones, I think there is sufficient evidence from a plethora of scientific studies that eating more plant-based foods, engaging in physical activity and having a social network are conducive to longevity. And then there are those alluring anecdotes. Like Buettner’s about the 104-year-old Costa Rican who was having sex with his 40-year-old girlfriend. As far as we know, he doesn’t play pickleball. Or eat oatmeal.
