Debunking Blue Zones

Issue 157: We debunk the idea of Blue Zones and quantify the health benefits of social connection

What is the secret to a long life?

Two years, we ran a column based on a show on Netflix called “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”. In the show, Dan Buettner travels to areas around the world — including Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California — where people live significantly longer than average, including many who live past 100.

He concluded: “What people think leads to a long, healthy life is misguided or just plain wrong”. The gym memberships and supplements people spend millions on might matter far less that other lifestyle factors.

It turns out that the notion of Blue Zones itself may be a myth! Saul Newman, a postdoctoral researcher in Australia discovered that these blue zones do not exist and appear to be a result of shoddy record keeping of vital statistics about births and deaths. In an interview with the New York Times he reported:

After analyzing 80 percent of all documented supercentenarians — people who live to b…