So-called “blue zones” are areas of the world where people live longer and have fewer chronic diseases. Among the reasons credited for the longer life expectancy in these areas is diet, with Italy, Greece and Japan all having “blue zones” within their borders.
“Blue zone” is not a scientific term but has become widely used for those geographic regions that are home to some of the world’s oldest people. And the man who came up with the term has revealed the four foods above all others that he says should “never” be in your house.
Dan Buettner said: “Let me tell you the four things you should never bring into your house. I don’t care if you go out once in a while and treat yourself but the four things that should never enter your front door.
“Number one: processed meats. We know that they are associated with cancer. Number two: sugar-sweetened beverages like fruit juices and Coca Cola and Mountain Dew. It’s the number one source of refined sugar in the American diet.
“The third thing you should never have into your house: salty snacks. We know that they’re most associated with obesity. And the final thing is packaged sweets, also highly associated with obesity.
“If you want to enjoy these things, go out and get them. Just don’t have them tempting you all the time in your house and we’ll see you when you’re 100.”
It’s likely that none of these will come as much of a surprise to you. Buettner is far from the only person to state unequivocally that processed meats cause cancer. Nichole Andrews, a registered dietitian nutritionist, says there are only two foods that are known to be directly cancer-causing and her words are backed up by Cancer Research UK — you can read that here.
What is a blue zone?
“Blue zone” is the term given by Dan Buettner to geographic regions home to unusually large numbers of older people. Buettner named five such zones in a book he wrote on the subject. They are:
- Icaria, Greece
- Ogliastra, Sardinia
- Okinawa, Japan
- Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
- The Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, USA
This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of areas of the world where people live longer, but they are the ones named by Buettner as having very high rates of people who live over 90 and 100. There are also studies on these areas published on the National Library of Medicine — one on Okinawa here and one on Sardinia here.
But studies show that genetics are not solely responsible for these life expectancy rates, so diet and lifestyle are credited as playing a major role and one thing reportedly common to blue zones is that those who live there primarily eat a 95% plant-based diet, though most are not strict vegetarians (the Seventh-day Adventists named above are strict vegetarians).
But diets in the blue zones are typically rich in:
- Vegetables
- Legumes
- Whole grains
- Nuts
It’s also important to note that a researcher recently published work claiming to show that there were “fundamental flaws” in the data about the world’s oldest people and patterns of extreme longevity. Dr Saul Justin Newman of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University College London said clerical errors and pension fraud were likely to be responsible for the age patterns in the data.
Who is Dan Buettner?
Dan Buettner has been described as as “Indiana Jones meets Jimmy Buffet”. He is National Geographic fellow and explorer, Emmy award-winning journalist and producer and five-time New York Times bestselling author. He also has a Netflix series called “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”.