Book review: Blue Zones, by Dan Buettner

One of the books that I was given from Christmas was Blue Zones, by Dan Buettner (affiliate links: UK, US).  Blue Zones is the term given to those small parts of the world that have much higher than average numbers of active 90 and 100 year old people living in them.  They are therefore of great interest to researchers into longevity and ageing.

The places where people live to 100 years old

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OK, so where are these Blue Zones?

Well, the Blue Zones book talks about four areas, being:

1. Barbagia (Sardinia);
2. Okinawa (Japan);
3. Loma Linda (California); and
4. Nicoya (Costa Rica).

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What do we find out about each of them?

Well, we follow the researchers as they interview various centenarians and other long-lived people living in the blue zones.  We experience their interviews and their way of life.  Then, at the end of each chapter, there is a summary of the points that the researchers felt were key to the long life expectancies.  The key points from each region covered in the book are as follows:

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#1: Barbagia (Sardinia)

• Eat a lean, plant-based diet accented with meat
• Put family first
• Drink goat’s milk
• Celebrate elders
• Walk
• Drink a glass or two of red wine daily
• Laugh with friends

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#2: Okinawa (Japan)

• Have a purpose in life
• Rely on a plant-based diet with a little meat
• Maintain a garden
• Eat soy
• Have a social network
• Get out in the sunshine
• Stay active

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#3: Loma Linda (California)

• Have a day off
• Maintain a healthy BMI
• Get regular exercise
• Spend time with friends
• Snack on nuts
• Volunteer
• Eat meat in moderation
• Eat an early, light dinner
• Eat more plants
• Drink plenty of water

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#4: Nicoya (Costa Rica)

• Have a sense of purpose
• Drink hard water
• Focus on family
• Eat a light dinner
• Maintain social networks
• Keep hard at (physical) work
• Get out in the sunshine
• Embrace a common history

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So where do they go from here?

Well, the researchers then draw on their research to make a summary list of things that they feel all four areas have in common to create a master list of key behaviours.  I’m not going to reproduce it here because I have to leave something in it for you to buy the book, after all!

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The dangers of bias

I was disappointed in a few respects by the researchers, where I felt that they started with an idea and pursued it, despite the lack of hard evidence, and ignored other, more obvious points that screamed at them.

Firstly, it seemed that the researchers were strong believers in the lipid hypothesis of heart disease and so seemed terribly concerned to establish exactly how much meat each group of people ate, while completely ignoring that all of them ate virtually no refined sugar at all.

Secondly, they didn’t seem to grasp the subtleties of the different types of exercise.  They talk about exercise on a continuum from gentle walking up to marathon running, which completely misses the point of what these populations are doing.

They are lifting and carrying heavy objects and performing manual labour, which is something that the limp-wristed researchers cannot relate to, so they revert back to talking about exercise in the abstract.

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The key features

So, the key features that jump out at me from the book were that the long-lived people:

• Did hard, load-bearing exercise (almost) every day
• Ate unrefined foods
• Made time for family
• Emphasised friendly, social interactions every day
• Got out in the sunshine

However, I expect that if you just did the hard exercise, the rest might be less significant.  Sadly, most people just aren’t prepared to put that kind of work in.