Blue Zones

Blue Zones are regions reported to have unusually many centenarians. The popularly cited list (Buettner) includes Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Ikaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (USA), while the demographically validated set typically comprises Sardinia, Okinawa, Nicoya, Ikaria, and sometimes Martinique. Shared features include plant-based diets, moderate caloric intake, low-intensity movement, strong social ties, and purpose. Saul Newman has argued that supercentenarian counts may be inflated by age-record errors, pension fraud, and missing birth registries.