PBS NewsHour
‘Live to 100’ explores why people in ‘blue zones’ live longer than average
Many people try all sorts of things to have long and healthy lives, from complex diet plans to expensive supplements. But in the Netflix series “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones,” bestselling author Dan Buettner says a lot of that is misguided. He traveled to places where people live much longer than average to figure out how they’re doing it. John Yang speaks with Buettner about the series.
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John: A lot of people do a lot of things in search of a long and healthy life. Complicated diet plans, gym memberships. But in a four-part Netflix series called “Live to 100: Secrets of the blue zone,” best selling author Dan Buettner says a lot of that is misguided. He traveled the world to places he calls “Blue Zones” — where more people live significantly longer than average. He tried to figure out how they're doing it. Recently, I spoke with Buettner and asked him why he chose to start a series on longevity in a cemetary. >> It is facing the inevitable. We will all get frail and we will all die. How long we want to be on this Earth, we have a lot of say in that matter. John: When you found these blue Zones, what are some themes running through? >> If you want to know what a 100-year-old eats to be 100, you have to know what she was eating when she was a child and retired. We found 155 dietary surveys done in all five blue Zones. With the help of Harvard, we found that 90% to 95% were eating a plant-based diet. Contrary to a lot of keto diet advice, it is mostly carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates, which I think shocks a lot of people. When I first started writing about this, I did a cover story for national geographic in 2005, nobody was pairing loneliness with longevity. It turns out that is worth about seven years of extra life expectancy. The big revelation, you never hear about it because it is not sexy and marketers cannot sell you things, an expert 10 years of life expectancy is the sum of a lot of small improvements we make in our lives, mostly in our environment, applied for decades. John: Are these blue Zones in danger? Okinawa now has an obesity problem. The family in Costa Rica where the young boy just want cereal. Are these indentured locations? >> As soon as the American food culture come to the front door, longevity goes out the door. I am getting most of these blue Zones a half generation before they adopt our way of life and our obesity rates and diabetes and heart disease rates. It is a tragedy. John: You also try to create some blue Zones. Minnesota, Fort Worth, Texas. >> The big lesson is to not try to change your behavior. You will fail. Almost all the people all the time in the long run, you change the environment. You designed for health. Our blues on projects unleashed a swarm of healthy nudges and defaults and are put in place for years. They are mostly environmental. Making cities walkable, policies that favor healthy food over junk food. Setting Americans up for success as opposed to the failure of our food environment right now. Every city we work in we have seen major improvements in people's health. We have seen obesity drop and we have seen health care cost savings in the hundreds of billions of dollars. John: It sounds like it is not just personal behavior. But also policies, making cities more walkable, designing streets and neighborhoods. >> I have no faith — I do not know of any research where you can change of population's health by trying to change individuals' behavior or give them responsibility. We are genetically hardwired to create fat, salt and sugar intake rest whenever we bought. Unless we set up an environment where it is easy for us to eat plant-based, easier for us to walk to and it is to drive, we will see health care costs in the trillions like we see today in America. John: You talked in the series about something we have talked about on this broadcast. Life expectancy is becoming shorter and a lot of it is because younger people are dying from suicides, homicides, drug overdoses and car accidents, all preventable. None of this is an organic problem. Did you learn anything in your work that would relate to that? >> The number one killer in America is our diet. We lose about 660 thousand Americans prematurely to the way we eat. If we do not take aim at that, these other things are more — in Singapore, individuals cannot own guns. In America, we lost 55,000 people to gun deaths last year. That brings down the life expectancy. In Singapore, they lost two. They are tough on drugs in Singapore. You can be put to death for selling drugs in Singapore. The other side of that equation, only 15 people died of drug overdoses. We lost almost 110,000 Americans to drug overdoses last year. There are a lot of things on the fringes but the big thing we need to take aim at is our diet. Until we get that squared away the rest of this thing — John: You say the same things that help us live a long, healthy life are the things that make life worth living. Are you saying if we concentrate on the quality of life, that the quantity of life will come? >> Concentrating on quality of life helps but these silicon multimillionaires shooting themselves up with young people's blood and working out six hours a day and taking these weird pills, people in blue Zones are living a long time because they are socializing. They know their purpose and they live their purpose. They live near Disher. They keep their families close by. You can add all these to longer life expectancy. If you adopt the blue zone's way of life, you stack the deck in favor of longevity but you can ensure the journey will be pleasurable. John: Did you change anything in your life based on what you learned? >> I became mostly plant-based. I do not eat meat anymore. I play pickle ball and take walks because I know that favors my longevity more than hard-core physical activity. I got very clear on my purpose. It is hard to get me to do things that are not down the strike lane of my values and what I'm good at and what I like to do and how I can give back. I have also prioritized family. Keeping your family nearby ads life expectancy over being single and alone. John: The series is live to 100: Secrets of the blue Zones. Thank you very much. >> We will see you when you are 100, John. John: [Laughter] It is a deal. >> All right. ♪♪
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