Blue Zone

Abstract

Long-living people have always attracted not only the researchers but also the general public through media. The search for the places on earth where people live longer started in the 20th century when some explorers discovered remote areas where the population showed exceptional longevity. However, all of these were later invalidated because of age exaggeration. In 1999, the results of a study, which asseverated the extreme longevity of men in Sardinia, encouraged demographers to assess the validity of their exceptional ages. Surprisingly, the spatial distribution of Sardinian centenarians according to their place of birth was not random and an area was identified where the proportion of centenarians was significantly higher. This area was called Blue Zone and it is known as a rather limited and homogenous geographical area where the population shares the same lifestyle and environment, and its longevity has been proved to be exceptionally high. So far, four Blue Zones have been identified and studied with the aim to trace the determinants of their exceptional longevity. Researchers try to understand why, in more developed populations, so many deaths occur between the ages of 60 and 80; whereas in the Blue Zone, many people live above 90 years. The lessons learned from the Blue Zone populations could give an answer. The oldest people living therein are examples of healthy ageing, and the information gathered from the Blue Zone populations can be adapted and transferred to nowadays’ societies to contribute living longer but healthier.