Identifying and Confirming Blue Zones
The career demographers, epidemiologists, geriatricians, and other scientists with expertise in the study of aging, who have identified and extensively studied the world’s longevity “hot spots,” often referred to as “blue zones.”
Gianni Pes
Dip. Medicina, Chirurgia e Farmacia, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
Luis Rosero-Bixby
Centro Centroamericano de Población, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
Christina Chrysohoou, Christodoulos Stefanadis
First Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Hippokration General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Bradley J. Willcox
Department of Geriatric Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA; Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Translational Reseach on Aging, Department of Research, Kuakini Medical Center, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
Craig Willcox
Department of Human Welfare, Okinawa International University, Ginowan 901-2701, Japan.
Here are eight peer-reviewed articles in respected academic journals which underpin our blue zones. They describe or attest to our age validation process.
- Poulain M, Pes GM, Grasland C et al. Identification of a geographic area characterized by extreme longevity in the Sardinia island: the AKEA study. Exp Gerontol. 2004;39:1423-9. LINK
- Poulain M, Herm A, Errigo A et al. Specific features of the oldest old from the Longevity Blue Zones in Ikaria and Sardinia. Mech Ageing Dev. 2021;198:111543. LINK
- Rosero-Bixby L, Dow WH, Rehkopf DH. The Nicoya region of Costa Rica: a high longevity island for elderly males. Vienna Yearb Popul Res. 2013;11:109-136. LINK
- Rehkopf DH, Dow WH, Rosero-Bixby L, Lin J, Epel ES, Blackburn EH. Longer leukocyte telomere length in Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula: a population-based study. Exp Gerontol. 2013;48:1266-73. LINK
- Poulain M, Pes GM, Carru C et al. The Validation of Exceptional Male Longevity in Sardinia. In: Robine, JM., Crimmins, E.M., Horiuchi, S., Yi, Z. (eds) Human Longevity, Individual Life Duration, and the Growth of the Oldest-Old Population. International S LINK
- Cockerham WC, Hattori H, Yamori Y. The social gradient in life expectancy: the contrary case of Okinawa in Japan. Soc Sci Med. 2000;51:115-22. LINK
- Willcox BJ, Willcox DC, Todoriki H, et al. Caloric restriction, the traditional Okinawan diet, and healthy aging: the diet of the world’s longest-lived people and its potential impact on morbidity and life span. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2007 Oct;1114:434-55. LINK
For more information, see: The Science Behind Blue Zones: Demographers Debunk Critics
