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Longevity: Journey into the blue zone | TechKnow
In this episode of TechKnow, we explore the regions where people enjoy a longer life of good health, regions known as Blue zones.
Acciaroli is one such region. It is part of what is known as the Cilento Coast of Italy, situated 140 km south of Naples. It has a high concentration of centenarians living there.
According to researchers from Rome's Sapienza University and the University of California, San Diego, one in every 60 of its residents is at least 90 years old.
This Mediterranean region has become known for good health supplemented by diet rich in fresh produce, pasta, olive oil, and rosemary.
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the centenarians of Italy 100 years old and counting but what's behind their extended lifespans scientists identify a blood biomarker that seems to protect their organs from the effects of Aging but why techno explores the science of the Blue Zone regions where people live extremely long lives this is techno a show about innovations that can change lives we're going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity and we're doing it in a unique way this is a show about science by [Music] scientists hello and welcome to techno from Southern Italy I'm Dr shini somara this is an absolutely beautiful part of the world but it's also a giant laboratory for scientists this is one of the world's so-called blue zones an area where an usually large percentage of the population Liv to a 100 years or more and that's exactly what's attracted a team of international scientists to find out exactly [Music] why this is Archer [Music] Ry a village where time seems to stand still long enough for people like Antonio Vaso and Mina fulo to grow old he's 100 and at 93 she's the younger woman they are married and have been for more than 64 [Music] years these days if you stroll by their Seaside apartment you're likely to capture a glimpse of the newly minted celebrities they're becoming famous for growing [Music] old I think Antonio has been waiting so long for his lunch do you have lunch at the same time every day and met or not they say that they have like a timetable regularly in a habit they have lunch at 12:00 in the morning and they have dinner at 5 in the evening every time like that since 64 years ago [Music] just a few doors down lives jeppe Vaso at 95 years old he's also active and independent enough to freely walk the streets of the [Music] village he lives alone on the top floor of this Villa and when we ask he has no trouble heading back downstairs to show off his Garden in most places jeppe Antonio and Mina would turn heads but here they're part of a robust Community this Steep and Winding Road leads to one of the many villages that are scattered along the coast of chento and they all share something very unique and special and celebrated thing in common and that's that every village has at least one sometimes more centenarian living there according to researchers from Rome sapena University and the University of California at San Diego in archeri one in every 60 residents is at least 90 years old by comparison according to statistics from Canada one of every 163 Canadians was at least 90 jepe who's 95 years old grows these in his Garden um must be hard [Music] work I can take these he's telling me I can take this so hopefully this will prolong my life the term blue zones was first established by two scientists Giani pz and Michael pulan who used blue lines to chart demographic data in Sardinia their 2004 Landmark study ident ified sardinia's nooro Province as a region with an extraordinary High concentration of male centenarians denoted by their blue lines since then scientists have expanded the Blue Zone concept from Sardinia to include Okinawa Japan nikoa Costa Rica Iaria Greece and Loma Linda California the question what can be learned from the high concentration of centenarians living in Archer Ry archeri is part of what's known as the chento coast of Italy situated 104 km south of Naples chento is a rugged Picture Perfect region that features Mountaintop Villages that spill out to the Mediterranean Sea residents spend a lot of their time Outdoors here working their land and walking nearly all the time the region has become synonymous for good health rich and fresh produce pasta olive oil and rosemary this is where the so-called Mediterranean diet was first scientifically studied by American scientist anel keys keys Landmark seven country study found diets in Italy and Greece highly protective against heart disease it's now about to become the focus of 21st century science welcome with a 12th century Castle as an impressive backdrop a decidedly 21st century team of researchers descended on the heart of chento to announce the results of their preliminary study of the region first of all as expected females they live longer than male so it's a good news for the female bad news for the men when you talk with a people like this and you visit this you think that you are visiting a person of 75 or 70 and the mean they they talk with you the man at the head of the study on the Italian side is Dr salvadora D professor of medicine and emergency medicine director at sapena University he explained what happened the first time blood samples from the centenarians were tested when we sent these samples to San Diego university we found that the group that is studying prote longevity where surprised to see that they found some protein in longevity Linked In this subject they never saw in the millions of subject so what does that mean you've you've discovered proteins in the human body that has never been seen exactly this this means a lot that we don't know enough to get a proper glimpse of the centenarian population of chento we headed up into the hills in a hurry to reach our destination before the sun set we arrived at this home higher top the Mountain Village of cadile one of the village centenarians lives on the second floor turns out we didn't have to worry about the late evening hour she did giovana rero was awake and spending time with her family at a 100 years of age this is one incredible woman her face shows a lifetime of experience and Grace she greeted me warmly this is a very nice place to live it's nice to have your Independence here through a translator she told me she does sleep here alone but her family is close by her daughter-in-law lives downstairs and is always there to help her we didn't speak the same language but it wasn't long before she began to hold my hand in hers so this is your husband and how how long ago was this 35 years ago 35 years ago wow Bella that's so beautiful no I think so her husband died just last year at the age of 101 they were married 75 years her life now exists around the next two generations of family including her 5-month-old great granddaughter giovana like most sent Arians in the study moves around easily scientists say it's unusual for anyone over 90 to walk around without a cane or a walker researchers also observe the centenarian strong cognitive abilities showing almost no signs of dementia or Alzheimer's disease this was measured in terms of what is called functional status the ability to prepare food for themselves and move about on their own what's her favorite thing to eat what's your favorite thing everything it's like me perhaps more significant to the team of scientists giovana doesn't wear glasses for her eyesight nor does she need a hearing aid and they see you and hear you without any AIDS that's interesting that is another important uh let's say finding no one of these got need for glasses no one of these was needed to be SED for catat that let's say I never see people the age of 90 leaving without having surgeries for catat the idea behind the research project is to determine what factors contribute to the centenarian good health and if they can be replicated medically all through diet and lifestyle the pilot study was conducted over 6 months starting in the spring of 2016 scientists took a close look at a select group of 81 centenarians and their families they focused on physical cognitive Lifestyle Family diet and genetics they drew blood samples from both the centenarians and their [Music] offspring techno was given access to the dura laboratory this is where the majority of the centenarian blood work was taken for analysis technicians charted basic cholesterol levels monitoring both good cholesterol HDL and the bad or LDL levels they measured triglycerides or fat levels and major organ functionality so uh how old is this lady 101 years old so the director of this lab is getting so excited about the results of this 101y old woman because her blood is so healthy it can be donated um he uses the word Bambina her blood is like the blood of a young girl an interesting picture began to emerge from the lab the centenarians showed some of the typical signs of aging but what makes them unique researchers say is those factors did not result in heart disease hypertension is a problem um with the centenarians in the area but oddly not thickening of the arteries how does that work together these subjects they have hypertension and this are something is expected because all the people of the age more than 85 or 90 has increas of blood pressure due to the fact that is kind of stiffness of the arterias that makes the level of pressure increased but we we're not able to find the same consequence here we see this dissociation so we see people of the age of 90 hypertensive without heart Fame so in terms of physiopathology this means that although these people have cardiovascular risk Psy hypertension they seems to be protected they seems to be protected with something that is going to interfere with the process of develop involvement of the heart it took a team of scientists from Germany to start to unravel the mystery they began by measuring specific biomarkers in the blood of the study objects the blood uh so and this so I read um how good or how bad someone is from uh blood biomarkers if they because they the blood is telling you anything you need to know or almost everything you need to know about um healthy or thick subject Andreas Bergman and UTA Kila run a small biotech company in Germany both hold Doctorate Degrees in Biochemistry they supplied a test for a hormone called andreno medulin they say is able to predict the health of the microcirculatory system the vast blood supply Network that supports the body's organs the signal was the uh concentration of a hormone which is named adreno manoline and this hormone controls the microcirculation so and if the microcirculation is very good there is no need of this hormone it's very low and if there's a bad microcirculation it's up and the very low values in the centenarians this was a surprising finding so I you know low as very young person so when we saw that these people have a microcirculation like very young people we couldn't believe it this Blood told us that uh the microcirculation is much better in the sarian than you would expect if you look at these uh organs because the organs have a normal process of aging and in strong contrast there to it seems that the microcirculation of these people has never aged the company's laboratory results made it even clearer since all of the 81 subjects sampled were related comparing Generations was easy one control group was uh the future super Ager these were the um younger relatives of the very old people uh and they had uh good kidney function 80% of them had good kidney function 90% had good heart function but 100% of them had good microcirculation and in the Arians uh this was more striking to see that almost all of them had bad kidney 80% had a weak heart or stress cardiac function but all of them good microcirculation so that was the common factor between old and young good micro circulation it was a common factor and it seems uh that they have maintained their good micro circulation over the long lifespan so that would I hypothese how surprised you at your findings cuz it really surprised me so normally you have um um when you make a hypothesis generating study you see a little signal which you must um confirm then in 1,000 2,000 10,000 subjects but here you do not need to confirm anything the signal is that strong that there's no question remaining the future will show uh what we can find here in the chanto that makes these people so extraordinary will because if you look at them they smoke as well they have a high uptake of food if you go to the restaurants you see that they have no diets at all except that they have the Mediterranean food here but you don't have the impression that they try to live a healthy life they have just one so we think or that's a hypothesis that maybe here's something in the food in the plants in the herbs whatever in the microbiome that help helps them to maintain this excellent microcirculation you come into this region so there is no uh sorry for saying that no McDonald's no Burger King so they have these small shops um mainly selling and um products they produce in this region therefore I think we have an extraordinary chance that somehow big part of the history of um lifestyle and nutrition is preserved in this region answers could come soon the next more advanced phase of the study will focus on Archer's diet I must say I wonder how they can eat all these um all these things they smoke a lot and they drink more than um the average in people in in Italy so they have more you know risk factors if you from from lifestyle point of view but they must have something which um helps to helps them to control their microcirculation so and there I must say it's today speculation you know it may be the specific nutrition in this area whether there's something scientifically notable to their diet or even in the soil archeri residents say that has been a long part of the lure of the [Music] region the Sabino family runs Hotel laa one of the great Waterfront Resorts that sit along the shore of the Mediterranean I see here while they don't have a centenarian in their family it was their grandfather who saw the importance of the region and made sure to connect this generation to the land and the food the menu at their hotel features fresh ingredients including produce grown locally they own a farm just a few kilometers up the hillside there's something about this area that um is helping long longevity of life and I wonder if it's in the food that you're growing here I mean organic here is not a trend here is I mean is is what you have I mean they would not eat tomato in December because they know there are no tomato in December Juliet represents Archer rol's Next Generation but on her Farm they still grow the traditional crops including Rosemary scientists from the study team tell techno they're looking Clos at the Rosemary groan hit because it may hold certain medicinal benefits they don't yet know why but say on the surface it is more intensely flavored than Rosemary cultivated outside the region everyone here have their own garden and know how to grow stuff and know how to eat seasonal but not because they choose it as a because it's healthier like we do it's because that's what they have because even this piece of mint I mean I've just never smelled mint like this before the thing is that here the land is kind of Virgin I mean here for example before the farm there was nothing there was nothing even not even someone like growing stuff so there is no danger that someone would have poison the the the heart or you know any the plants or anything and there are no industry here all the land here it's not yours because you have bought it like last year it's yours because it was yours from your great grandfather then left it to your great father and then your father and then you you may still be alive telling you how to cultivate it yeah they don't have gyms here and although they are eating and taking alcohol smoking and so on so there must be a secret to it so finding the answer to that could be the uh key to a long life one key I would say so I think it might be an important factor might be uh one of the keys but I think life is usually more complex the research team also cited the importance of another lifestyle Factor the family multiple Generations Provide support as does the community at large there is of course all these psychological factors and that you live in a social environment that you live in your family that you talk to people every day that you train your brain you feel responsible for you know all these factors you may call it soft factors I think they are important too researchers are also looking at other psychological factors in their study the centenarians are a resilient group they survived two world wars famine and poverty when I visited Antonio and Mina I asked what single event in his lifetime was most important the centenarian spoke of hard times during World War II when he was stationed in North Africa Africa one might think that a long life involves a lot of comfort and um ease of living but it doesn't seem to be the case here um from Antonio what I'm understanding is that he's been through a lot in his 100 years and all of that has given him the strength of character 100-year-old giovana expressed similar sentiments during our evening together she often reflected on Hard Times she became emotional while describing life in this Village a generation ago this region is good and healthy so uh life hasn't been easy working Barefoot in the countryside certainly tough for anyone but that kind of resilience that we see it's clear that she has a real strength of character many different facets of life here are being examined mental health experts like Anna skel ELO are studying the impact of psychological factors on the longevity of this unique population the interesting thing is that there were only uh 1.6% of the centenarians depressed versus 4. uh 7% of the group control depressed so the younger the children were more depressed than the um the centenarians there the their fathers or mothers but this is just a pilot study and who knows the younger generation may live to 100 we don't know if it's genetic we have yet to find out but what's your prediction of people suffering more from depression well because I work a lot with the adolescence now uh I can see they are more stressed they are more anxious they're getting more panic attack they well centenarians don't even know what it is a panic attack we just facing difficulties and traumas and they've lived through two world wars ex exactly so I'm really wondering as you now saying what will happen to the younger generation no one knows why just yet that will be for the longer term study but the clues are there the world has discovered Archer Ry bringing outside influences to this quiet Waterfront Community the younger generation is finding reasons to leave moving to larger cities like Naples and Rome still as the sun sets over Archer Ry a small group of seniors gathered at the local church for Saturday night prayers villagers say there's something special about the simple way of life that they say cannot be measured by a blood test or a biomarker I don't think at the end of the day you will get a pill and if you have this pill then you shouldn't worry about anything else that would be too easy I guess you know I'll never forget 100y old javana wishing me a life longer than hers as we parted and that could be a reality for all of us as the results unfold from the research that's happening in this region and it could significantly influence or even change the way we think about diet health and aging in the future for techno I'm Dr shini somara in Italy see you next time [Music]
#Longevity #Journey #blue #zone #TechKnow
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So basically they eat real food
And not chemical plastic burgers McDonalds
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I can't imagine living for another 30 years, even if I remained healthy 😂 A long life is a curse, in my opinion.
One question no one asked these oldies is, Are they happy?
This is eight years old 2025
I think be happy with what you do have opposed to what you want to have has a great deal to do with this. Too much greed in todays world. It is the excess that causes most problems.
I’m curious if she’s on any medications. I bet not
They are have good quality life in health…no strees..,active..fresh food and good interaction in neighborhood.
fish
They didn’t tell us what they eat!!!
No one is getting out of here alive!
It has to be the fresh food and activity
🧬 genetic
I love watch videos about the Blue Zones. Great video.
5:25 Paulie spotted
Giovanna looks fabulous at 100, besides all the other centenarians !
My grandfather lived to 99. Smoked 2+ packs a day. Along with cigars and pipes. Ate a horrible diet. Zero exercise. And had no hobbies. If he had lived the same life like my auntie did but just without smoking. He could have probably lived to 110 like she did.
Isn’t genetics wonderful.
Genetics
Debunked lies.
Your amazing
awesome video. praise god for long life!!!!!
Also cover Hunza Valley Pakistan…
That belongs to my homework .
Well is the foundation of life they highly peaceful in mind, a secret of log life meeting , greeting, feeding fun, love, and being active.
No pesticides in there food no poison
They just stay old and ugly for longer time than other people
If I win the lottery I'm living here wow what a life 😂😂😂
One thing people always overlook is the quality of soil where food is grown. Many of the blue zones are near volcanic regions
Obviously they didn't get vaccines that cause micro clotting.
Modern medicine will kill you!
its because of the nutrients thay consumed . when those blue zone countries move to the west its then they die early…
What were the proteins found in blood to longevity?
i told some dumb woman about how the world we live in is completely unnatural with how we just go through people and then they dissappear from our lives, and how back in the day you'd grow up in a tribe or small community and the people youd spend ur whole life growing up around would still be around into adulthood and you'd keep up with their lives in a higher trust community and how it would be better. then she said i sound like a cult leader.
Beautiful documentory ❤
so did she have her son at 50
Its not about Gene or Keen but their lifestyle
When i get outside for fresh air, i only inhale car emissions…. Netherlands…..
Thank you ever so much for this video 🙂