BLUE ZONES LONGEVITY CLAIMS VALIDATED BY NEW RESEARCH
A new peer-reviewed paper published in The Gerontologist provides the most comprehensive scientific response to date addressing recent critiques of the so-called "blue zones," regions of the world known for unusually high concentrations of people living long, healthy lives.
In the article, "The validity of blue zones demography: a response to critiques," authors Steven N. Austad, PhD (Scientific Director, American Federation for Aging Research/AFAR and Distinguished Professor, Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham) and Giovanni M. Pes, MD (Professor of Medicine at the University of Sassari) detail decades of demographic research showing that ages in the original blue zones have been rigorously validated using the highest standards of modern gerontological demography.
The researchers bring comprehensive global expertise in aging research: Dr. Pes is a discoverer of the original blue zone in Sardinia, Italy. In addition to serving as AFAR's Scientific Director, Dr. Austad is the Co-Principal Investigator of the National Institute on Aging's Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging Coordinating Center; his trade book, Why We Age (1997, 1999), has been translated into eight languages.
2026-01-06T03:18:18Z