Sardinia Blue Zone: The secret of Sardinian longevity

There is a small part of Sardinia that hides a secret. The secret of longevity. It is called the "Blue Zone", a term used to identify those geographical areas of the world in which life expectancy is higher than the world average. All the Blue Zones are united by a high presence of people over ninety years of age and a low incidence of deadly diseases such as cancer. There are 5 blue zones in the world: Sardinia, the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica, the island of Ikaria in Greece, the island of Okinawa in Japan and the village of Loma Linda in southern California.

In Sardinia, the blue zone is concentrated in the central-eastern part of the island. Ogliastra and Barbagia are the areas with the highest longevity rate. In 2014, the longest-lived family in the world was in the Ogliastra municipality of Perdasdefogu: 8 brothers for a total of 828 years.

From a study by Dr. Giovanni Pes, professor of medical sciences at the University of Sassari, no particularities at the genetic level were found. There is therefore no direct correlation between the genetic characteristics of the observed population and their longevity. Lifestyle, diet, physical activity, and social bonding must have played a more significant role in determining Longevity Blue Zone characteristics than genetics.

In fact, on an anthropological level, typical essential elements come into play such as the value of the family, emotional exchanges and dialogue that contribute to mental health, the sense of community, but also daily physical activity, imposed by the conformation of the territory. Studies have in fact shown that the elderly residents of these areas had a significantly higher energy consumption than that of the inhabitants of the plains, allowing them to preserve their cardiovascular fitness in old age.

Finally, diet certainly plays an important role: The introduction of a more varied diet and the replacement of lard with olive oil have brought about further improvements, the researchers claim. Research shows that changing eating habits has led to several outcomes on health and functional status. Increasing olive oil intake has a beneficial effect on perceived health, physical performance and sensory organ function. The daily consumption of olive oil may have played a role in the extraordinary longevity of this small population of Sardinia.