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Has anybody here ever studied or read any scientific reviews of the study known as "The Blue Zones"?

There was a long term nutritional/diet/longevity study done known as “The Blue Zones” and a subsequent book or perhaps few books was released about it. It was based on the general diets of people who lived in these world wide zones who had increased longevity.

I’d be very interested to hear peoples opinions about this especially if you’ve read any scientific reviews, criticisms or verifications of the principles of what this study espouses - it’s very interesting and worth looking into a bit if you’re interested in nutrition in general

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_zone

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There is a part of Japan where people are set up with children their own age and establish lifelong relationships. In Sicily, it is common for grandparents to move back in with their children. There is also a community in southern California where they have community gardens and gatherings to encourage healthy eating with social relationships.

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Successful Aging by Daniel Levitin looks at them in a section of his book. It’s less of a miracle diet and more that they live moderately active, low stress, socially engaged lives and don’t eat much processed foods.

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Hi .I thought it would be interesting and chose the book to listen to fro my audiobook subscription. It was very disappointing as a listen. But I remember that the people in these blue zones would spend (approximately I can’t remember exactly) 5-6 hours a day socialising with friends, neighbours and family over the days main meal . It was shared and sounded wonderful! So different to the way we live .

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Here is some reading you can do on Blue Zones, if you’re interested:

  1. A quick overview/review of the book from the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (2016): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6125071/pdf/10.1177_1559827616637066.pdf
  2. A study from 2021 on how the dietary patterns of the “oldest old” in Sardinia, a Blue Zone, have changed over time. It’s based on a lot of self-reporting, so grain of salt, but interesting (full text): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8146058/pdf/nutrients-13-01495.pdf
  3. A trend study from 2020 suggesting that the beach towns of Southern California may be a Blue Zone from the American Journal of Preventative Cardiology (full text): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8315595/pdf/main.pdf
  4. This is a decent summary of some of the Blue Zone dietary habits with lots of citations, though you may want to click through some of the links to check out the studies yourself: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/blue-zones

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I’ve lived in a blue zone! I think people get really focused on the nutrition part and leave out the other important pieces like the strong social networks which is huge and data from geriatric studies shows that’s really important for senior long term health.

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Just want to point out “Plant heavy diet” ≠ vegan/plant based here. (This is often overlooked when examining these regions and extrapolating what they did to live such long lives) Traditional coastal regions consumed fish and meat intermittently. If you look up traditional foods for these places you’ll find cheese, eggs, pork, seafood, lamb/sheep, goat, sheep/goat milk, organ meats etc.

It’s a diverse array of whole foods, not processed corn sugar. Not processed meat. They tap into all aspects of holistic wellness.

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Yes. The Blue Zones have been debunked for some time now:

https://benjamindavidsteele.wordpress.com/2019/05/28/blue-zones-dietary-myth/

https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/blue-zones-baloney/

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/blue-zones-diet-speculation-based-on-misinformation/

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I saw a breakdown into this elsewhere. The ending conclusion was that a more plant based diet devoid of processed food is key. The more meat and more processed food eaten, the worse the overall health.

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I’m a southern Italian who lives in a national park in Campania where we grow our own food. Of course, what I tell you will vary depending on where you are. Culture and traditions can shift dramatically from place to place and we tend to consume ancient varieties, those our ancestors used to eat.

• Fruits, vegetables, legumes, and wheat • Oil, flour, sauces and wine production • Processed meat (sausages, pancetta, etc) moderated consume, meat (rabbit, chicken, goat, sheep, cow, pork, etc), eggs and dairy food production • We consume wild plants, fruits, fauna and mushrooms from the mountains• Fish, seafood, shellfish, and marine plants

Everything is fresh and healthy because we eat according to the season/month and what nature has to provide. We try to avoid going to the grocery shop, but there are times when it is unavoidable. In contemporary society, social involvement and physical activity are also crucial. We move a lot and interact with each other everyday. Could these informations help? I don’t know, I thought it was interesting to share more. Not a scientific comment but this could make you understand more what we consume everyday

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Yep, they basically check all the boxes for Lifestyle medicine. I recommend the book “Blue Zones” by Dan Buettner. Search “Chef AJ Dan Buettner” for an awesome interview where he goes over what he learned from all of these awesome people. Here’s the video:https://youtu.be/IdwJTI1i9IA

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Family and spirituality is also part of the lifestyle. NatGeo have a magazine called The Blue Zones. They go to each area and outline what they eat what they don’t eat and how they live. Very interesting magazine and I have tried hard to emulate some of oh lifestyles outlined

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