From the article: "clerical errors, natural disasters, and pension fraud were better explanations for the proportion of centenarians “discovered” in these discrete regions of the world."
That was discovered in Japan around 2010.[1] The Tokyo municipality sent out people to visit everyone over 100 to find out what they were doing right.
What they found was that about 80% of them were unaccounted for, but collecting benefits.[1][2]
Blue zones were always just eat healthy, exercise, and having friends.
I believe that these things almost certainly help longevity as a number of independent studies into each of these show that, and it’s intuitively obvious
It is just good advice. I follow this fairly closely, not so much for life span (although that would be nice) but simply for health span.
Knowing my luck some hyper cancer will just come out from somewhere and take me out in a few weeks or I just slip down the stairs one day. But I try to sway the odds.
I can't tell if it's a feature or a flaw of academia that some topics can so be thoroughly proven/disproven, and yet so many researchers continue to devote their careers to it. Should more effort be given to enforcing existing knowledge and consensus, or is preserving intellectual freedom more important?
> Dr Newman showed that the highest rates of achieving extreme old age are predicted by high poverty, the lack of birth certificates, and fewer 90-year-olds. Poverty and pressure to commit pension fraud were shown to be excellent indicators of reaching ages 100+ in a way that is ‘the opposite of rational expectations’.
> Buettner himself says he oversaw the blue zones frozen meal initiative
This really captures the reality of longevity, at least in US culture. Whether or not blue zones are verifiable or real, the ingredients to statistical longevity are well understood to minimally include: eat better and maintain a level of fitness.
Those are not easy to do when laziness, sedentary device time and fast food options are just so easily available. So instead, we end up with frozen meals that almost certainly don't contain the same nutrients and definitely don't include the same effort as having to prepare a meal by hand while walking about the kitchen.
Medicine has extended longevity, but the relative ease of our senior years is perhaps robbing us of the quality of that bonus time.
Median life expectancy is affected by a much larger number of variables, and is also susceptible to just as much (if not more) number fudging and statisitical nudging. Maybe the country also has a large subset of obese alcoholics for example. If someone lives to be over 100, that in and of itself is a pretty valuable data point
My doctor always says “There are three little things that will give you the best chance at living a long and healthy life. Eat a little better, move around a little bit, and get a little more sleep”
Longevity research is the most overhyped, commercially driven scam and fraud hotspot in modern science. Anti-aging docs and researchers print beaucoup bucks milking the rich narcissistic boomer cow who doesn't want to age, can't accept their mortality and is willing to spend a fortune trying to stave off the inevitable.
> In 2021, Adventist Health used the blue zones brand to market a $600 million Miami luxury tower that, in addition to boasting a “blue zones center” combining longevity medicine and advanced diagnostics, featured on-site cosmetic and plastic surgery.
Anything that promises anti-aging, better looks, making money, finding your soulmate, total safety and security, etc., is going to lend itself to outrageous marketing. Because these are some of the chief desires of humanity.
Blue zones have been utterly, thoroughly debunked. There’s no reason to still ask this question in 2026 unless a new/unusual population or lifestyle is emerging.
That was discovered in Japan around 2010.[1] The Tokyo municipality sent out people to visit everyone over 100 to find out what they were doing right. What they found was that about 80% of them were unaccounted for, but collecting benefits.[1][2]
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071
[2] https://www.npr.org/2010/09/20/129992827/tracking-down-japan...
https://github.com/jaronilan/stories/blob/main/Base%20Rate.p...
Inspired by some random HN comment.
I believe that these things almost certainly help longevity as a number of independent studies into each of these show that, and it’s intuitively obvious
Knowing my luck some hyper cancer will just come out from somewhere and take me out in a few weeks or I just slip down the stairs one day. But I try to sway the odds.
IMO the whole concept is one of those Occam’s razors that proves especially sharp.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2024/sep/ucl-demographers-wor...
Blue Zones absolutely destroyed.
This really captures the reality of longevity, at least in US culture. Whether or not blue zones are verifiable or real, the ingredients to statistical longevity are well understood to minimally include: eat better and maintain a level of fitness.
Those are not easy to do when laziness, sedentary device time and fast food options are just so easily available. So instead, we end up with frozen meals that almost certainly don't contain the same nutrients and definitely don't include the same effort as having to prepare a meal by hand while walking about the kitchen.
Medicine has extended longevity, but the relative ease of our senior years is perhaps robbing us of the quality of that bonus time.
> In 2021, Adventist Health used the blue zones brand to market a $600 million Miami luxury tower that, in addition to boasting a “blue zones center” combining longevity medicine and advanced diagnostics, featured on-site cosmetic and plastic surgery.