Blue Zones

Blue Zones are places where unusually many people were reported to reach a very old age, often 100. The idea began with demographic fieldwork in Sardinia. There, Michel Poulain and Giovanni Pes mapped a mountain area with many validated centenarians and called it the "Blue Zone".^[24] The writer Dan Buettner later made the term famous, extended it to five places and summed up their shared habits as the "Power 9".^[21]

Those places are meant to show more than extra birthdays. In Nicoya, one of the better-documented zones, older men also had fewer disabilities and fewer deaths from heart and circulation disease than other Costa Rican men.^[9] That finding covers one zone and one sex, so it is a hint about healthy ageing rather than a rule for all five.

Whether the birthdays themselves are real is the bigger dispute. Demographer Saul Newman at UCL has argued since 2019 that records of extreme age often come from places without reliable birth registration at the time. In his view, poor records or pension fraud may explain much of the effect.^[2] His sharpest example comes from the US: when states introduced birth certificates, records of people over 110 dropped by 69 to 82 percent.^[2] The work won him the 2024 Ig Nobel Prize in Demography, whose citation calls the recordkeeping "lousy", with less diplomacy than a journal would use.^[34]

National audits have turned up the kind of errors Newman means. In Japan, the trigger in 2010 was Sogen Kato, listed as Tokyo's oldest man. He had been dead for about 30 years while his family received his pension payments.^[25] Newman reports that more than 230,000 people recorded as Japanese centenarians were then found to be missing, dead or record errors.^[2] Most of those were old entries in the family register (koseki) for people registered before 1910, which nobody had ever crossed out.^[36] A Japanese analysis found that they had practically no effect on the country's life-expectancy statistics.^[36]

Greece produced a similar finding. Newman writes that a 2012 crackdown found at least 72 percent of the census centenarians dead or the subject of pension fraud.^[2] Both were nationwide checks, though, not audits of a Blue Zone, and we ran our own count of the official population statistics for our Blue Zones case file. For Okinawa itself, Blue Zones, the company, says the separate 2010 proof-of-life checks covered all 47 Japanese prefectures and found no missing centenarians there.^[22]

That Okinawa claim is part of a wider pushback. Blue Zones researchers dispute Newman's work and call his preprints unreviewed.^{[22, 23]} In October 2024, Pes, Luis Rosero-Bixby, Bradley and Craig Willcox and other demographers signed a joint statement.^[23] Steven Austad and Pes followed in December 2025 with a peer-reviewed reply that defends the demographic methods.^[3]

That reply leaves the two sides unevenly published. Newman's main paper is still a preprint, posted publicly but not published in a journal.^[2] In its latest version (November 2025), he writes that it passed peer review at BMC Public Health. As of October 2026 it has still not appeared there, so only the Blue Zones side has a published journal reply.^[3]

Even reliable age records would leave the role of genes unresolved. Heritability estimates say how much of the variation in lifespan between people in a studied population goes with genetic differences, and they vary widely. Older twin studies put it at about 20 to 25 percent, and recent large family-tree studies as low as 6 percent.^[11] A 2026 modelling study that set aside deaths from accidents and infections arrived at about 50 percent,^[11] a figure one critique says the method inflates.^[26] None of these numbers tells you how much of a Blue Zone's advantage is genetic.

What survives both disputes is narrower than the Power 9 brand suggests. Several habits are linked to longer life in research outside the Blue Zones: a sense of purpose,^[14] close social ties,^[13] and plant-rich eating with legumes.^{[5, 19]} These are observational links (from watching people, not from experiments), and no trial has shown that the Power 9 work as a package. One of the nine, wine, does not hold up at all.^[6]

Michel Poulain, who helped map the Sardinian zone, comes to a similar view in a 2026 review: no single factor decides who reaches 100.^[33] What recurs in validated long-lived regions, he writes, is lifelong everyday activity, frugal eating, dense family and community ties, and shared ways of handling stress.^[33]

There are five original Blue Zones: Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, Ikaria in Greece and Loma Linda in California. Each was picked for unusually high reported longevity, but the quality of the data differs a lot. Loma Linda and Nicoya have the firmest data, from studies that followed people over many years or drew on official population records. Okinawa's lead is gone, and the counts for Sardinia and Ikaria are among those Newman disputes.^{[2, 3]} The table sets each zone's headline figure next to how well it holds up today.

Sources: Japanese prefectural life tables^[12] AKEA study,^[24] Nicoya studies,^{[9, 10]} Ikaria Study,^[8] Adventist Health Study-1.^[4]

Okinawa, Japan

Okinawa was once home to some of the world's longest-lived women, but that edge has faded since 2005. Japan's 2020 life tables by prefecture show how far.^[12]:

• Okinawan women slipped to 16th of 47 prefectures, out of the top 10 for the first time since Okinawa entered the tables in 1975.
• Okinawan men fell to 43rd, down from first place in 1985.

Older Okinawan women still lead Japan in remaining life expectancy at 65 and 75^[12] That fits the idea that the advantage belongs to the older generations, so the record now sits with the grandmothers rather than their grandchildren.

When Blue Zones research talks about Okinawa, it describes how those older generations lived, and Buettner names three of their customs.^[21] Hara hachi bu is an old Confucian saying before meals, a reminder to stop eating at 80 percent full. A moai is a small group of friends who commit to supporting each other for life, and ikigai is a reason to get up in the morning. On their plates, the daily bean was the soybean, often eaten as tofu.^[20]

Sardinia, Italy

The Sardinian Blue Zone, as first mapped in 2004, covers the mountainous centre and east of the island, and its striking feature is its men.^[24] Among centenarians born there between 1880 and 1900, there were about 3 men for every 4 women.^[24] In a core of mountain villages, men even slightly outnumbered women.^[24] That turns the usual picture around, because in most populations women outnumber men about 4 to 1 at that age.^[1] A Sardinian genetics study found no male (Y-chromosome) line that explains the difference.^[1] Newman's critique has also questioned how some of the island's birth records were verified.^[2]

Wine is the other thing the island is known for. Buettner credits Sardinians with a daily happy hour and recommends their local Cannonau wine,^[21] but the newest local data do not flatter it. In a 2026 study of 200 Sardinian Blue Zone residents aged 90 to 106, those who drank wine more often died sooner.^[18] Milk and cheese went the other way: residents who had them more often lived longer.^[18] The study is observational and covers diet in extreme old age only, so it says little about lifelong habits. Even so, it gives wine no support as the island's secret.

Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

Nicoya's advantage rests on a large survival study rather than on centenarian counts alone. Following 16,300 older Costa Ricans from 1990 to 2011, researchers found that Nicoyan men died at about a 20 percent lower rate than other Costa Rican men.^[9] That means roughly 80 deaths where you would otherwise expect 100. Nicoyan women showed no such edge, and among men born in Nicoya who had moved elsewhere the advantage was no longer detectable.^[9] The authors caution that the age at moving, health and who chooses to move could explain part of that.^[9]

The edge is also fading over time. Tracked by birth year, men born around 1905 had about a third lower adult mortality, while men born around 1945 had about 10 percent higher mortality.^[10] So Nicoya's record is real but historical, not a permanent world best. What it describes is how older Nicoyans lived. Their traditional diet was simple, with rice, beans and some animal protein, high in fibre,^[9] and they call their sense of purpose "plan de vida", their life plan.^[21]

Ikaria, Greece

Ikaria's fame rests largely on popular accounts of Buettner's research rather than on a full population study, and Greek age records are among those Newman questions.^[2] The firmer data point is the Ikaria Study, a 2009 survey of 1,420 volunteers aged 30 and over rather than a full population count. Even so, its share of people over 90 was much higher than the European average.^[8] Most of its participants over 80 reported daily physical activity, healthy eating, frequent socialising, midday naps and very low rates of depression.^[8] Their everyday food is a Mediterranean diet with olive oil, vegetables and legumes, and as in Sardinia, goat and sheep milk products play a part.^[20]

Loma Linda, California

Loma Linda is the best-known hub of Seventh-day Adventists, and most of the hard Blue Zone data comes from Adventist studies. The first Adventist Health Study followed about 34,000 Adventists across California from 1976 to 1988. At age 30, Adventist men could expect to live about 7.3 years longer than other white Californians, and women about 4.4 years longer.^[4] Combinations of lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, body weight and smoking history accounted for differences of up to 10 years among Adventists.^[4]

Those differences exist because members do not all live the same way. The church encourages a Saturday Sabbath, no smoking or alcohol, and a vegetarian diet, but not every member follows this.^[5] Many Adventists in the follow-up study (AHS-2) ate meat. There, vegetarians had a death rate about 12 percent lower than non-vegetarians, with a larger gap in men.^[5] That study is observational, so it shows a link rather than proof. Loma Linda therefore shows a Blue Zone inside modern America, and a group in which single habits such as diet can be compared with one another.

The Power 9 are nine habits Dan Buettner reports as common across the Blue Zones.^[21] Not every habit applies to every zone; Adventists, for example, do not drink.^[21] The table sets Buettner's description of each habit next to what research outside the Blue Zones says about it.

The habits with the most outside support are the social ones and purpose. A meta-analysis pooling 148 studies linked stronger social ties with better survival^[13] Purpose shows a similar link: among US adults over 50, those with a stronger sense of purpose were less likely to die during follow-up.^[14] Belonging points the same way. Almost all the centenarians Buettner's team interviewed belonged to a faith community.^[21] In a large study of US nurses, women who attended religious services regularly had a lower death rate.^[15] All three findings are observational, so they show a link, not proof that joining a group adds years.

Everyday movement is harder to isolate in the Blue Zone data. Buettner describes residents who do not work out but walk, garden and do house and yard work by hand.^[21] Among Adventists, exercise was one of several lifestyle factors that together accounted for up to 10 years' difference in life expectancy.^[4] That study did not measure the effect of exercise on its own, though.^[4] The Blue Zone data therefore cannot put a number on movement, and our guide on exercise covers how much you need.

Food is easier to check against outside research. Beans such as fava, black, soy and lentils form the base of most centenarian diets, and meat appears only about five times a month on average.^[21] That plant-heavy pattern is what the Adventist and legume studies link to a slightly lower death rate.^{[5, 19]}

Downshifting, the 80% rule and putting loved ones first rest on Buettner's observations rather than on longevity studies. His examples of downshifting are daily rituals: Okinawans take a moment each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians nap and Sardinians do happy hour.^[21] For the 80% rule, Okinawans say "hara hachi bu" before meals as a cue to stop eating early.^[21] Buettner argues that the gap between "not hungry" and "full" can decide whether you gain or lose weight.^[21] Poulain's review also finds shared ways of handling stress and dense family ties in validated long-lived regions.^[33] Finding them there does not show that they add years.

Wine is the one habit that research contradicts. Buettner reports that people in every zone except Loma Linda drink 1 to 2 glasses a day with food or friends.^[21] He also writes that moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers.^[21] That comparison has a catch: the non-drinkers often include former drinkers who quit after falling ill.^[6] A meta-analysis of 107 cohort studies (which follow groups of people over years) corrected for that. It found no statistically clear lower death risk from low or moderate drinking.^[6] Risk rose with higher intake, and it started at lower amounts in women than in men.^[6]

Health bodies have drawn the same line. The WHO says no level of alcohol is safe for health, partly because alcohol causes cancer.^[16] The German Nutrition Society (DGE) advises not drinking at all and names pregnancy and breastfeeding as times to avoid alcohol completely.^[17] Nobody should start drinking for longevity. Close social ties are linked to better survival,^[13] though no study has shown that they explain the Blue Zone drinking pattern. If you like the evening ritual, keep the company and put water, tea or an alcohol-free beer in the glass.

The Blue Zone diet is 95 to 100 percent plant-based in Buettner's food guidelines, built on vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts and fruit.^[20] His short version favours beans, greens, yams and sweet potatoes, fruit, nuts and seeds, with whole grains also fine.^[20] Meat appears about five times a month in small portions, and fish up to three small servings a week.^[20] Buettner's team says it distilled these guidelines from more than 150 dietary surveys of long-lived people.^[20] Treat the numbers as his synthesis, then, not as measured averages for every zone.

Nicoya offers an independent check on that synthesis: researchers there describe a simple traditional diet of rice, beans and some animal protein, high in fibre.^[9] Our guide on the longevity diet compares this pattern with other eating styles. Buettner's guidelines themselves split foods into three groups.^[20]:

The base (95 to 100 percent of the diet):

• Vegetables: leafy greens and seasonal produce
• Legumes: beans, lentils and chickpeas (soybeans in Okinawa), at least half a cup cooked every day
• Whole grains: for bread, Buettner recommends sourdough or 100 percent whole wheat, though sourdough is not automatically whole grain
• Nuts: about two handfuls a day
• Fruit: whole fruit

In moderation:

• Fish: up to three small servings a week
• Olive oil: the plant oil used most often in the Blue Zones
• Dairy: mainly goat and sheep milk products, in Ikaria and Sardinia
• Eggs: two to four times a week, usually one as a side

Rarely:

• Meat: about five times a month, in small portions
• Added sugar: no more than about 7 teaspoons (28 g) a day
• Processed foods: replaced by whole foods with few ingredients
• Soft drinks: none; water, coffee and tea are the main drinks

Wine is missing from these lists on purpose. Traditionally, adults in four of the five zones drank wine with meals, about 1 to 2 glasses a day according to Buettner^[21] That describes the old pattern, not advice, and current evidence gives no reason to copy it.^[6]

Who should be careful

Beans are the backbone of the pattern, so they need proper cooking. Raw or undercooked kidney beans contain a lectin (a plant protein) that causes vomiting and diarrhoea within hours.^[27] For dried beans, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) advises three steps,^[37]:

1. Soak the beans for 6 to 12 hours.
2. Pour away the soaking water.
3. Boil them in fresh water at 100 °C for at least 30 minutes, then keep cooking until they are soft.

Steaming, microwaving and roasting are less effective than boiling^[37] and canned beans are already cooked. Fava beans carry an extra risk for one group. People with G6PD deficiency, an inherited enzyme defect common around the Mediterranean, must avoid fava (broad) beans, because they can trigger dangerous red-cell breakdown.^[28]

A diet this low in animal foods also leaves two gaps to watch. If you eat almost no animal foods, get vitamin B12 from fortified foods or a supplement.^[29] Older adults need more protein than younger ones, about 1.0 to 1.2 g per kilogram of body weight a day.^[30] So beans, fish, eggs or dairy should not drop out when meat does. People with severe kidney disease who are not on dialysis are an exception and should agree their protein intake with their doctor.^[30]

You do not need to move to Sardinia to copy what the Blue Zones do well. You can't change your genes, but you can shape your habits and much of your surroundings. Our guide on how to slow aging covers the habits beyond the Blue Zone list. Nicoya hints that surroundings may matter, since men born there who had moved away showed no clear survival advantage.^[9] The researchers caution that who moves, and why, could explain part of that.^[9]

Start with the surroundings, because that is where Blue Zone movement comes from. Buettner describes places that nudge people to move without thinking about it, not people who go to the gym.^[21] Taking the stairs, walking or cycling to errands and keeping a garden or an allotment (Schrebergarten) are the obvious local versions. Keeping healthy food in plain sight applies the same idea in the kitchen. Eat with other people when you can, and stop before you are stuffed.

A daily portion of beans

An easy habit to copy is a daily portion of beans, lentils or chickpeas. Buettner's guideline is at least half a cup of cooked beans a day.^[20] That is a bowl of lentil soup (Linsensuppe) or a generous handful of cooked chickpeas (Kichererbsen, about 8 tablespoons) on a salad.

Across 32 long-term studies with over a million people, eating more legumes was linked to a slightly lower risk of dying.^[19] The risk was about 6 percent lower per extra 50 g a day.^[19] Those studies are observational, so they show a link rather than proof, and the certainty of the evidence is low to moderate.^[19] Still, beans are a cheap, easy habit that fits every Blue Zone diet. Soak and boil dried beans as described in the diet section, and leave out fava beans if you have G6PD deficiency.^{[28, 37]}

A fixed social circle

Close social ties are linked to better survival,^[13] and in German-speaking countries the ready-made version is the club. Germany had about 616,000 registered clubs (eingetragene Vereine) in April 2022,^[31] from the Sportverein and the Wanderverein to the choir and the garden club. Regular, long-term membership gives you a fixed weekly circle, a bit like an Okinawan moai. Fees vary, and many clubs charge a modest monthly amount. A Stammtisch, a weekly pub table with the same friends, works on the same principle, and the beer on it can be alcohol-free without changing the company.

Purpose and a way to unwind

Purpose and rest are harder to schedule, but both can start small. People with a stronger sense of purpose were less likely to die during follow-up,^[14] though no study has shown that deliberately building purpose changes this. A reasonable first step is to write down why you get up in the morning and to do something regularly that matters beyond yourself. For stress, try a daily ritual in the Blue Zones' own style, such as a walk, a nap, a prayer or an evening hour with friends.^[21]

If you want one place to begin, put a recurring walk with the same friends in your calendar, on a day you can keep for months. That makes movement and company the default rather than a daily decision, which is how both turned up in the Blue Zones.