What is it about?

This review looks at what people in famous “blue zones” eat and asks a simple question: does their diet have the features of a resilience diet—a way of eating that helps older adults stay functional, resistant to stress, and healthy for longer? Across Okinawa (Japan), Ikaria/Sardinia (Greece/Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Loma Linda (USA) and data from Brazil, we find the same pattern: mostly plant-based foods (whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruit, nuts, herbs), olive oil, fermented foods, and regular fish/seafood; little red meat, dairy and eggs. These habits are linked to lower risks of CVD, diabetes, certain cancers, obesity, sarcopenia and dementia, and to better vitality in older age.

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Why is it important?

Populations are ageing, but not all diets support functional resilience in late life. The blue-zone pattern offers a real-world template that is culturally diverse yet nutritionally consistent. Translating it into a practical resilience diet can help clinicians and policy makers shift prevention upstream—from treating disease to maintaining capacity, independence and quality of life.

Perspectives

We synthesized studies (2006–2021) from major databases (NCBI, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CyberLeninka, Elsevier, SciELO) on ageing, centenarian nutrition and blue zones. We compared food groups, frequency and dietary rules across regions and mapped them to outcomes relevant to healthy ageing: cardiometabolic risk, cognition, sarcopenia, and mental health. The result is a dietary profile capturing common denominators of longevity diets.

Dr Aleksandr Martynenko
LLC “Multifunctional Medical Center” M-clinic, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

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This page is a summary of: "The blue zones" resilience-diet (review), RESEARCH RESULTS IN BIOMEDICINE, December 2022, Belgorod National Research University,
DOI: 10.18413/2658-6533-2022-8-4-0-8.
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