It’s not a healthy place to live anymore,” he said. Okinawa is no longer a blue zone because of that. “As soon as American food comes in, longevity goes out the door. “I know there is controversy over alcohol but I can tell you blue zoners are drinking moderately every day, usually with friends and food, and they are still making it into their 90s with a fraction of the chronic disease that Americans have.’’ Beware American processed foodīuettner is concerned that the American way of eating and globalization of food threaten blue zones. And I just read, of the 90-year-olds in Sardinia, over 80% drank wine every day of their lives,” said Buettner. If you live with a centenarian, you are kissing, your spouse and you are sharing a pot of food. “That proves that there is a lifestyle contagion - that it might be from a bacterial exchange. But when we looked at the spouses of centenarians, they don’t share any genetic overlap, but they are more likely to live to be centenarians than a centenarian’s brother!” “We often thought there was a genetic component to the super-agers in Sardinia, because Sardinia has a genetically pure population. And, he is not one to wag a finger at those who drink wine moderately. He starts his day with a breakfast of homemade minestrone soup. “You have to pay for your wine and your food, which is all donated, and then the money they raise goes into community projects.” Not necessarily in the genesīuettner, who is slim and youthful looking at 63, holds several Guinness World Records for longest endurance cycling times, and he eats the way blue zoners do - plenty of beans, vegetables and whole grains. You have 80-, 90- and 100-year-olds show up for the community,” he says.

“In Costa Rica, 90 villages have a huge party that starts during the day and goes until 8 the next morning with drinking of wine and dancing and twirling. The generations also keep connected through community socializing. It’s not like they are tottering off to classes but they are always learning.’’ In blue zone communities, men and women continue to use their minds as they age they always have a craft that keeps their brain engaged. His respond: “Long life expectancy is associated with adult education, so lifelong learning is good for all of us.

“But blue zoners don’t struggle nearly so much as us to make all of those factors work harmoniously, and it makes an enviable difference: they live 10-plus years longer on average, and they’re healthier all the way from cradle to grave.’’ Lifelong learning and intergenerational socializing helpĭuring the Longevity Book Club meeting, Martha Deevy of the Longevity Project asked Buettner if lifelong learning fits in with blue zone healthy living.

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