Have you ever heard of “Blue Zones”?
These pockets of the world are famous for having citizens who live exceptionally long, healthy lives.
Some of these places may sound familiar:
Okinawa, Japan (home of Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid!). Sardinia, Italy. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. Icaria, Greece.
These places have a higher percentage of people who live longer because of their local food diet, high vegetable consumption, low incidence of disease, rich social interactions, low stress, and sufficient physical activity .
Countless books, documentaries, and news articles have supported these associations, and millions upon millions of health-conscious people have modeled their lifestyles after how these people live.
It's just that one problem with this amazing story.
It's not really true.
First Ig Nobel Prize in Demography
Last month, Dr. Saul Justin Newman the first “Ig Nobel Prize” in Demography.
These awards are given annually for scientific research that “makes people laugh, and then think. “
For this special award, Newman was recognized for eliminating almost all results from any study related to the Blue Zones.
Here's what Dr. Newman found:
“The highest levels of very old-age achievement are predicted by high poverty, lack of birth certificates, and fewer 90-year-olds.
Poverty and pressure to commit pension fraud were shown to be good predictors of reaching the age of 100+ in a way that 'contradicts reasonable expectations'.”
It turns out that most of the “very old, healthy” people in those blue zones were just a result of Yesvery poor record keeping, pension fraud, and outright liesYes.
Let's take a look at what actually happens on Okinawa:
“Despite vegetables and sweet potatoes being promoted as key components of the Okinawan 'Blue Zone' diet, according to the Japanese government, Okinawans eat the least vegetables and sweet potatoes in Japan and the index their highest body. “
Oooooh. So, what do we do now!?
Beware of anecdotal reports that make amazing promises
Spend enough time on social media, and you'll come across people telling you to eat only meat, cut out carbs completely, like “this one medicine saved their life,” or that XYZ cured on their illness, and so on.
These funny stories, especially when they have a villain, a victim and a heroic story of overcoming adversity, are very powerful. They are also often used to sell you a solution in pill or powder form.
The good news is our data is constantly being updated with science.
We are not really we need to know what the people of Okinawa eat, and we don't need to study the daily habits of a certain community in Costa Rica.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good whimsical story about the customs in a faraway land too, but it still comes back to reality and science!
And let's remember that we have to do the best for our particular situation. That could include YestreatmentYesit can include Yesweight loss medicationYesmaybe it just involves focusing on sleep right now!
That is up to us to decide, and we can do so with confidence. Not because that's what happens in Costa Rica or Greece, but simply because that's what's best for us.
Here are some of the ways in which we can have a positive impact on our lives and/or our health.
Yes, some of these things are part of the “Blue Zone Diet”… just without the hype and pension fraud.
And many of them may be beyond our control!
For example, Yessocial determinants of healthYes (financial stability, access to health care, education, our neighborhood) are strongly linked to all-cause mortality, and many of these things may not be available to large portions of the population.
Life is Messy
I don't bring all this up to tell you to avoid the Blue Zone diet.
Heck, you could do a lot worse than eating a Mediterranean diet! Of course you are more likely to lose weight and be healthier if you eat fresh fish, whole foods and vegetables more often.
I bring all this up to remind you that life is fake.
A long healthy life is a combination of dozens of interconnected things (like the ones above), thousands of decisions made over our lifetime, in addition stuff like genetics, society, and luck! What works for one person may not work for the next, and there is no “one diet fits all” solution to our problems.
We could be hit by a bus tomorrow, receive a cancer diagnosis despite “doing everything right,” or experience a Yesa freak accident that changes everythingYes Next week.
So, instead of chasing immortality through sensational news, or getting swept up in the latest social media trend…
We can keep our focus on the stuff we feel pretty damn confident we'll do better tomorrow than we are today.
Like the things on that list above! Now if you'll 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 Hat tip to my friend Jodi Ettenberg, whose sad and powerful story of adoption I linked above. it was Yeshis newsletterYes that led me to this article!
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