Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / Blue Zones: Beautiful Myth or Measured Truth?

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Blue Zones: Beautiful Myth or Measured Truth? · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

• 0:04
  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: You've probably heard about the Blue zones,
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  those idyllic places where people supposedly
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  live to a hundred without breaking a
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  sweat, eat some beans, walk a
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  little, take a nap, connect with your neighbors, drink
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  some red wine and boom, near
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  immortality. But today we're going to
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  take an unfiltered look. Because while the
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  blue zones make for a beautiful story, the
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  truth, it's a little more complicated.
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  I am your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terri
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  Simpson, and this is Fork U
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  Fork University, where we make sense of the
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  madness, bust a few myths and teach you a little bit
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  about food and medicine.
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  The term Blue zones was coined by journalist
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  Dan Buettner. Working with demographers
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  National Geographic, they identified five
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  regions with high numbers of people who
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  lived to be over 100. Okinawa,
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  Japan, Sardinia, Italy, Nicoya, Costa
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  Rica, Icara, Greece, and Loma Linda,
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  California. They noticed some common
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  lifestyle patterns, mostly plant based
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  diets, a lot of daily movement, tight
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  knit communities and low stress.
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  Now don't get me wrong, these are all
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  great habits, but here's the catch. It
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  wasn't a scientific study. It was a set of
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  observations. It wasn't randomized, it
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  wasn't peer reviewed. It was a journalist
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  project. Let's take Okinawa for
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  example. It used to rank high in life
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  expectancy. But more recent data shows that longevity
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  has dropped significantly. Fast food is now
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  common, obesity rates have risen, and the younger
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  generations are far less healthy than the
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  elders. And then let's take Sardinia,
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  the longevity hotspot. This was
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  combined to this small mountain region with
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  genetic isolation and unique population
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  dynamics. Not something the average person can
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  replicate. This was not in the major city of
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  Alghero. This was a tiny hilly
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  region. Loma Linda is known to
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  a specific religious community, the Seventh Day
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  Adventist. It's the only United
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  States location. Now. Seventh Day
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  Adventists are vegetarian. They don't smoke,
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  they don't drink, they exercise regularly. Their health
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  outcomes are impressive, but not so
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  representative of the general population community.
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  So while the Blue zones are nice stories, they are
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  not universal solutions and they're definitely
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  not scientific blueprints.
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  Now lately some research has started poking holes in
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  Blue zone narratives and the biggest red
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  flag the data. For instance,
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  in Okinawa, researchers discovered errors in birth
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  records. People registered as centurions without
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  verifiable proof. In Icara, death
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  records were incomplete or missing altogether. And
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  this is a huge problem. If you're trying to draw scientific
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  conclusions about longevity
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  without clean verified data,
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  you're just building theories on sand.
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  Then there's survivorship bias.
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  We're only hearing about the people who did live
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  long. We're not counting on the ones who
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  didn't, or those who died young from preventable
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  diseases. And let's be honest, many
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  of those places aren't Blue zones
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  anymore. And they westernized, adding
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  processed foods, more meat, more
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  sugar. Their health outcomes have become worse.
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  So are these locations magic
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  longevity bubbles? No, they're snapshots
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  in time, not timeless
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  formulas. But let's
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  move on from romanticism to rigorous
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  science. Because we actually have hard
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  data on on what helps people live longer
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  and healthier. Because we actually have hard
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  data on what helps people live longer
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  and healthier. Or what we call
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  healthspan. Now, I'm talking about large
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  scale cohort studies like the
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  Nurses Health Study, the Adventist Health Study and
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  the EPIC Oxford Study. These studies
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  followed hundreds of thousands of people over
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  decades. They didn't rely on old
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  census records. They used food frequency
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  questionnaires, blood work, medical
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  outcomes. The findings
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  pretty consistent. Eat more plants,
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  more fiber, fewer ultra processed foods,
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  regular movement, not marathons, just
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  more steps, strong social
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  support, moderate caloric intake,
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  and reduction of chronic inflammation through
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  diet and lifestyle. So while the
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  Blue zones suggest what might work,
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  these studies show what actually
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  does. Now
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  let's compare some of the Blue Zones
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  mythology with something that's actually evidence
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  based. The Mediterranean diet. Unlike
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  the Blue zones, the Mediterranean diet is a clearly
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  defined diet. And it has been studied in
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  over 13,000 peer reviewed
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  publications. It emphasizes olive oil as
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  a main fat, lots of vegetables, legumes,
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  whole grains, moderate fish, minimal red
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  meat, dairy in moderation, wine
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  with occasional meals, not happy hour, and much
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  less wine than you would think. And it's not just
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  Blue zone shared meals and movements.
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  But here's the difference. It's not based on
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  folklore, it's based on data
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  in the Predamed study. A randomized controlled
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  trial of over 7,000 people at cardiovascular
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  risk found that those who followed the Mediterranean Diet had a
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  30% lower risk of major cardiovascular
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  events compared with a low fat diet.
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  And then there's the Spanish cohort study. This
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  tracked 1.5 million
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  people. Those who were more adherent to a
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  Mediterranean diet. Based on the
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  Mediterranean diet score, they lived longer.
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  That's all cause mortality, not just heart
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  disease, not cancer, everything. They had a
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  9% increase in longevity
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  and health span. As you
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  probably know if you listen to this podcast, the Mediterranean diet
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  is replicable, measurable and clinically
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  validated. You don't need to live in Sardinia,
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  although I've been there. It's really nice.
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  You just need a decent grocery store and a little consistency.
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  So when it comes to proven longevity rates, the
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  Mediterranean diet wins hands down over
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  every other diet that's been studied.
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  Now look, the blue zones give us a
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  compelling narrative. But science doesn't
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  care about stories. It cares about data.
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  If you want to live longer, the secret isn't buried on a hillside in
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  Costa Rica or hidden in an Okinawan soup
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  pot. It's in the research. Eat real
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  food. Move your body, sleep,
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  connect stress less. And
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  don't chase magic diet.
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  Chase measured truth.
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  All m right, that's it for today's dose of unfiltered
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  science. If you like your nutrition without the
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  nonsense, then follow me on TikTok and Instagram.
• 7:24
  Rterry Simpson. Subscribe to Fork U.
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  Wherever you get your podcasts, you can check my substack
• 7:30
  channel out@tsimpson.substack.com
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  because here at Fork University, we don't do trends. We do
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  truth.
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  Until next time, stay skeptical, stay
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  curious, and eat like your life depends on it.
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  Because it does. This podcast was
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  researched and directed by me, Dr. Terri Simpson.
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  And while I am a doctor, I am not your
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  doctor. Before you go, uh, embarking on some
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  change of your diet, please check with the board certified physician
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  and registered dietitian. Not a chiropractor, not
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  some eastern trained whatever. The
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  podcast was distributed by our friends at Simpler Media and
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  my good friend, the pod God, Mr.
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  Evo Terra. Have a good week, everybody.
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  Hey Ivo, aren't you glad we don't have
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  to go to Icara to find out the truth about this stuff?
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  On the other hand, I kind of think going
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  to the Mediterranean and hanging out for a while maybe just what the
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  doctor ordered. Oh wait. I'm the doctor. Let's order
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  it.
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  >> Speaker B: No way, dude. I've read my Greek tragedies.
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  I know that's where you fly too close to the sun.