Review: The Blue Zones

I recently read The Blue Zones. It looks at four areas/cultures of the world with unusually high longevity: Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Loma Linda Seventh Day Adventists (California), and Nicoya (Costa Rica). The author boils down his experiences in these areas into nine pieces of advice. I enjoyed the book very much for its collection of stories of vivacious, happy, and productive 90+ year olds. It gives me hope for golden years where I'm not completed dependent and debilitated. However, I do think some of the advice Buettner gives is a bit hasty.



The first suggestion for health and long life is to "Move Naturally." Okinawans often keep gardens, repeatedly get up from sitting on the floor, and walk up and down stairs. Sardinians and Nicoyans both live in mountainous terrain and walk everywhere. Adventists are the exception, because although they do move a lot (from indoor exercise to nature walks), it is often more deliberate than "natural". A hunter-gather society would always have to be on the move in order to eat, so I think this is good advice. It seems like the best avenue aside from being a shepherd in the mountains is to keep a garden. But if you can't integrate movement into the necessary parts of your life, doubly make sure to integrate it into your leisure time.

Second is the Okinawan saying "Hara Hachi Bu" which basically means "Eat Until You're 80% Full". It's interesting that this is included because it only really applies to one of the zones. Overeating is definitely a bad thing, although overeating on an Okinawan diet probably isn't terrible. I wonder if Okinawans have this mantra because their diet is so carbohydrate rich, which leads to blood sugar peaks and dips, and thus, more hunger.

The next recommendation is "Plant Slant"--in other words, eat a more vegetarian diet. I think this is a misrepresentation of Blue Zone behavior. Okinawans eat pork and dairy, Sardinians seem to get most of their calories from dairy and meat, and Costa Ricans consume their fair share of eggs, chicken, and pork. The exception is the Adventists, who do have a large vegetarian population. Furthermore, studies have actually been done on the Adventists which show the vegetarian populations as healthier (the vegan segment even more so). This definitely begs more investigation. One should be hesitant about this kind of study, however, since we don't know what other differences between vegetarian and meat-eating Adventists there are. Also, I wonder if it has something to do with the state of meat production in America. Eating sick animals may take away any animal-consumption benefits.

The most questionable piece of advice is "Grapes of Life": to drink moderate amounts of wine. The health benefits of resveratrol (the antioxidant in wine supposedly responsible for long life) don't seem to be proven yet. Additionally, only two of the zones drank wine--Okinawans drink only sake, and Adventists don't drink at all. I think it has more to do with the low-stress atmosphere than the antioxidents (although I'm sure the antioxidants don't hurt).

The last five pieces of advice are all more philosophical and sociological:
Purpose Niche: Have a reason to get up in the morning
Down Shift: Destress yourself
Belong: Be needed in your community
Loved Ones First: Foster values of family togetherness so you're taken care of in your old age
Right Tribe: Hang out with people who share your healthy values.

I think these are all fine advice, although I don't know how effective any of them are. I think the best items are the first two (have a purpose and keep stress low) since being less anxious and more purposeful is likely to keep stress hormones low, and thus lower inflammation, which triggers disease.

The lessons I have gathered from The Blue Zones are: eating meat might not be necessary if you keep your calorie intake low by yourself (this may be hard for most people) and might be a bad idea if you're in America; moving around is absolutely essential, especially if you can get outside in the sun; growing your own food is ideal, but at the very least know where your food comes from and eat "whole foods". Search out foods rich in antioxidants and low in carbohydrates (none of the zones seemed to put much emphasis on grains in their diets).


I recommend this book just for the wonderful stories, but watch for where the author is inserting his own views into his advice (such as the commonly held but gradually more dubious claim that saturated fat alone causes heart disease). Use it to think about how you want to spend your last years and how you can make that possible.