“Blue Zone” is a term for regions of the world where people tend to live longer lives, often reaching up to age 90 and even age 100 and beyond. Currently, there are five known Blue Zones: Okinawa, Japan; Icaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California. Research shows that while aging is influenced by your genes and can vary from person to person, external factors can greatly affect how long you live. These may include diet, lifestyle, stress, and social environment. Though these Blue Zones are scattered all over the world, their diets and lifestyles share some similarities. For example, people in these areas tend to exercise more and eat lots of vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and legumes. This article reviews in detail the Sardinian diet, a key component of the Sardinia Blue Zone, exploring its historical context, traditional foods, and the lifestyle factors that contribute to the remarkable longevity of its residents.
What are Blue Zones?
Blue Zones are regions worldwide where inhabitants exhibit exceptional longevity. These areas have captured the attention of researchers and health enthusiasts alike, seeking to understand the secrets behind their extended lifespans.
The Sardinia Blue Zone
The island of Sardinia is located west of the Italian Peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea. It is said to be the home of the longest-lived men. Sardinia's Blue Zone stands out for its unusually high number of centenarians-especially men. While the global average leans heavily female, in Sardinia the male-to-female ratio among centenarians is nearly 1:1. In 1999, the island recorded 13.56 centenarians per 100,000 inhabitants.
Historical Context
It’s easy to imagine the Sardinian diet as something timeless - simple, consistent, and unchanged. A key turning point came in the mid-1920s, when modernisation began to reach the island. Although the pace was slower than in mainland Italy, new technologies like refrigerators started to appear, allowing people to store meat and perishable foods for longer. The Sardinian diet has changed quite dramatically over the years, changing and mirroring the economic circumstances of the island. In the 1950’s there was a “nutrition transition” where the local diet started to change. After World War II, the traditional Sardinian diet began to shift under the influence of modern media. As life became more prosperous, Sardinians relied less on homegrown ingredients. With this economic growth came changes at the table: people began eating more meat, pasta, fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil, beef, and fish. Interestingly, many older Sardinians were slower to embrace these modern food trends. Before the 1920s, food in Sardinia was scarce and often inadequate. Over time, daily calorie intake increased from about 2,400 to 2,600-enough to support smaller body sizes and high physical activity. The Sardinian Blue Zone Diet was rich in nutrients, though food variety remained limited prior to the 1920s.
Geographical Factors
Geography might have more to do with longevity than we once thought. In Sardinia, many of the villages in the blue zone are tucked away in the island’s rugged interior, especially in regions like Ogliastra and Barbagia. Interestingly, this isn’t unique to Sardinia.
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The Sardinian Diet: A Variation of the Mediterranean Diet
The Sardinia diet is a variation of the Mediterranean diet - also called Sardo-Mediterranean - that’s associated with preventing chronic age-related diseases. The Mediterranean diet is characterized by a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, minimally processed whole grains and legumes, nuts and olive oil as main fat sources, moderate fish consumption, and low intakes of dairy, alcohol, and red meat. In contrast, the Sardinian variation includes higher intakes of olive oil, fish, milk and dairy products, and alcoholic drinks. At its core, the Sardinia Blue Zone diet is based on simple, seasonal foods including legumes, whole grains, and dairy products from sheep and goats. Meat is eaten in small amounts, and red wine is consumed in moderation. Sustainability and moderation are two core pillars of the Sardinian Blue Zone diet, where meals are traditionally made from scratch using locally sourced ingredients. In the past, every family would grow their own grains, which they milled into flour to make bread and, occasionally, pasta. Shepherds raised goats and sheep, providing milk for fermented cheeses and meat, while a large pig supplied prosciutto, cured meats, and lardo used in cooking. Food was-and still is-consumed in a balanced, mindful way: a bit of everything, never in excess. While modern life has brought more pre-made food into the Sardinian diet, many locals continue to grow or produce much of what they eat.
Key Components of the Sardinian Diet
- Vegetables: tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, cabbage, zucchini, and carrots
- Fruits: oranges, apples, bananas, dates, figs, and peaches
- Legumes: fava beans, lentils, and chickpeas
- Grains: barley and wheat for their traditional flatbread and pasta. The consumption of sourdough and starters like fermented cheese is often linked to lower blood sugar spikes after lunch. Sardinians eat civraxu sourdough bread and carcasau bread. They also eat pane lentu, which is the soft flatbread stage before carasau is toasted-it has a pocket like pita bread. These are the main three breads. There are also more decorative breads for special occasions. The main flour used is semolina, and traditionally all breads were naturally leavened with sourdough.
- Dairy: goat’s and sheep’s milk, yogurt, and cheese. Sardinian shepherds consumed a daily amount of cheese, Pecorino, Casu Axedu and Ricotta. Goat's and sheep's milk (and deriving cheeses) have a higher nutritional value and are more easily digested compared to cow's milk.
- Fish and seafood: sea bass, anchovies, octopus, mussels, clams, and lobster
- Fats: olive oil and nuts, such as almonds and hazelnuts. Evidence shows that olive oil consumption increases good cholesterol and lowers bad cholesterol.
- Herbs and spices: parsley, fennel, mint, bay leaves, celery, and garlic. Fennel is used as a vegetable (the bulb), as a herb (its willowy fronds), and as a spice (its seeds). Rich in fibre and soluble vitamins such as A, B, and C.
- Alcohol: Cannonau red wine and myrtle liqueur. Traditionally, in the Blue Zone, residents drank mostly red wine (Cannonau), Mirto (a liqueur made from myrtle berries), and grappa (fil’e ferru, meaning “iron wire”). None of the centenarians I interviewed drank beer or modern alcoholic beverages. Cannonau wine has two or three times the level of artery-scrubbing flavonoids as other wines.
- Foods to eat occasionally: Certain meats: beef, lamb, and pork; Sweets: honey, puff pastry, and candied orange peels
- Foods to avoid: Some meats and poultry: including processed or cured meats; Processed foods: sugar-sweetened beverages, refined grains and oils, and ready-to-eat foods and snacks.
Traditional Sardinian Diet
Before the Second World War, pasta consumption in the Blue Zone was limited to handmade pasta (using semolina flour, such as malloreddus, culurgiones, and fregola) once a week, as it was time-consuming and usually reserved for a treat or celebration. In the Blue Zone area, surprisingly, meat consumption before the Second World War was higher than in other parts of Sardinia, as most centenarians were shepherds and had access to meat. However it was limited to around four times a month and they ate mainly pork and lamb, either cured or roasted. People would eat every part of the animal, including all offal. For non-alcoholic drinks, they occasionally drank water from natural springs which are often accessible from taps in the mountains, as well as coffee (originally made from acorns in their youth, later replaced with coffee beans), and goat’s milk. From my interviews, a typical Sardinian breakfast before the Second World War was a cup of coffee made with ground acorns, as coffee beans were expensive and scarce. After the war, coffee beans became more widely available, and breakfast shifted to a slice of toasted bread with honey or ricotta. All Sardinian families have a fireplace, so the bread was often toasted over the fire with a knife-not a modern toaster. Yogurt isn’t traditionally part of the Sardinian diet. The closest thing is casu axedu, a type of fermented sour cheese with probiotics. It’s usually eaten at the end of a meal and has a sharp taste. Traditional Sardinian desserts are mostly biscuit-based, such as amaretti biscuits and walnut biscuits, often flavoured with orange zest and lemon.
Lifestyle Factors in Sardinia
There are many factors, but most scientists believe it’s due to staying active-walking every day with light exercise-having strong community and family support, living with purpose, staying positive, eating a healthy diet, and possibly genetics. A lifestyle emphasizing family rank, where members take care of each other from childhood to old age, maintaining close social activity with neighbours.
Community and Family
Sardinia’s strong family values help assure that every member of the family is cared for. Grandparents can provide love, childcare, financial help, wisdom, and expectations/motivation to perpetuate traditions and push children to succeed in their lives. This may all add up to a healthier, better adjusted, and longer-lived children.
Daily Activity
Shepherds arguably had a better diet, with higher meat and dairy intake, more muscle mass, and greater body weight compared to peasants.
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Humor
Men in this blue zone are famous for their sardonic sense of humor. They gather in the street each afternoon to laugh with and at each other.
Examples of Sardinian Centenarians
- Antonio Todde: Certified by Guinness World Records in 2001, he survived to the age of 112 years and 346 days. Born in Sardinia’s Nuoro province, in Tiana to be precise, the shepherd revealed his secret to the BBC: live stress-free, one day at a time, love your neighbor, and have a glass of red wine every day.
- Giovanni Frau: Also lived to 112, dying in 2003.
- The Melis Family: From Perdasdefogu, the family was recognized for the greatest combined sibling’s lifetime: 828 years.
The Akea Project
Luca Deiana, director of the chair of Clinical Biochemistry of the Sassari University, who coordinates The Akea project (a kent'annos which in Sardinian means a hundred years) tells of having met in Ovodda village, in the province of Nuoro, living in two neighbouring houses, a man and a woman over one hundred years old. One was a shepherd for years and ate mostly bread and cheese. The other's mother had found herself without milk to feed her baby and, with peasant wisdom, she had her new-born breastfed directly from a goat’s udder. A diet that today would disconcert dieticians, but despite the super dose of animal origin proteins and fats, both have reached the century with gracefulness. "People who didn't go much to school, but at 102 years old know a lot about the laws of nature, far more than a graduate" he says, "They have great positivity, are optimistic, have common sense, spirituality, believe in life and do not reject others. They were in tune with the environment in which they lived.
Blue Zone Diet Principles
These 11 simple guidelines reflect how the world’s longest-lived people ate for most of their lives.
- Eat lots of fruits, veggies, and beans: Aim for 5 to 10 servings of produce every day. This can include bananas, leafy greens, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, seaweed, avocado, and more.“Practice making your meals colorful by diversifying your food plate with a variety of foods,” Ford says.Plus, try to eat at least ½ cup of beans every day. Some types you might try are chickpeas, lentils, black beans, and soybeans. Beans are rich in both fiber and protein, which will help you stay full for longer. Beans reign supreme in blue zones. They’re the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world: black beans in Nicoya; lentils, garbanzo, and white beans in the Mediterranean; and soybeans in Okinawa. The fact is, beans are the consummate superfood. On average, they are made up of 21 percent protein, 77 percent complex carbohydrates (the kind that deliver a slow and steady energy rather than the spike you get from refined carbohydrates like white flour), and only a few percent fat. They are also an excellent source of fiber. They’re cheap and versatile, come in a variety of textures, and are packed with more nutrients per gram than any other food on Earth. Beans are a meal staple in all five of the blue zones-with a dietary average of at least a half-cup per day, which provides most of the vitamins and minerals you need.
- Limit meat and ultra-processed foods: People in blue zones eat meat and animal products sparingly - as mentioned, a general breakdown of the diet is 95 percent plant-based and 5 percent animal-based. Meat can be an option every once in a while or as part of a celebration. But choose tofu and beans as your primary protein sources, if possible, along with the occasional serving of fish. It’s best to limit ultra-processed foods as well, including sugary beverages, salty snacks, sweets, processed meats, and packaged meals. These items have limited nutritional value and have been linked to health concerns, including heart disease, cancer, and mental health conditions.
- Cook at home: Preparing meals at home and dining out less often will make sticking to the blue zones diet a little easier and help you consume nutritious foods more frequently, Ford says. Research suggests that when people cook at home, they tend to consume fewer calories and added sugars. They’re also less likely to consume ultra-processed foods and more likely to eat whole or minimally processed foods.
- Pay attention to portions: Eat mindfully and focus on portion control, Ford says. As mentioned, a key part of the blue zones diet is the 80 percent rule, where people are urged to eat until they’re only 80 percent full rather than stuffed. This guideline will help you avoid overeating.
- Stay hydrated: Water is the preferred beverage of people living in blue zones, and drinking water throughout the day will help keep you hydrated, Ford says. Coffee, green tea, and herbal teas are also commonly consumed in these regions.
- Oils from Plants: Many oils derive from plants, and they are all preferable to animal-based fats. We cannot say that olive oil is the only healthy plant-based oil, but it is the one most often used in the blue zones.
- Eat Meat Sparingly: People in four of the five blue zones consume meat, but they do so sparingly, using it as a celebratory food, a small side, or a way to flavor dishes. Averaging out consumption in blue zones, we found that people ate about two ounces or less about five times per month. So, while you may want to celebrate from time to time with chicken, pork or beef, we don’t recommend it as part of a Blue Zones Diet.
- Eat Fish in Moderation: If you must eat fish, fewer than three ounces, up to three times weekly. In most blue zones, people ate some fish but less than you might think-up to three small servings a week. There are other ethical and health considerations involved in including fish in your diet. It makes sense, for example, to select fish that are common and abundant, not threatened by overfishing. People in the blue zones don’t overfish the waters like corporate fisheries that threaten to deplete entire species.
- Avoid Cow's Milk: Arguments against milk often focus on its high fat and sugar content. The number of people who (often unknowingly) have some difficulty digesting lactose may be as high as 60 percent. Interestingly though, most goat’s milk is consumed not as liquid but fermented as yogurt, sour milk, or cheese.
- Eat Eggs in Moderation: People in all of the blue zones eat eggs about two to four times per week. Usually they eat just one as a side dish with a whole-grain or plant-based dish. Blue zones eggs come from chickens that range freely, eat a wide variety of natural foods, and don’t receive hormones or antibiotics.
- Consume only 28 grams (7 teaspoons) of added sugar daily: People in the blue zones eat sugar intentionally, not by habit or accident. They consume about the same amount of naturally occurring sugars as North Americans do, but only about a fifth as much added sugar-no more than seven teaspoons of sugar a day. It’s hard to avoid sugar. It occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, and even milk. Our advice: If you must eat sweets, save cookies, candy, and bakery items for special occasions, ideally as part of a meal. Limit sugar added to coffee, tea, or other foods to no more than four teaspoons per day.
- Eat two handfuls of nuts per day: A handful of nuts weighs about two ounces, the average amount that blue zones centenarians consume-almonds in Ikaria and Sardinia, pistachios in Nicoya, and all nuts with the Adventists.
- Eat only sourdough or 100 percent whole wheat: Blue zones bread is unlike the bread most Americans buy. Most commercially available breads start with bleached white flour, which metabolizes quickly into sugar and spikes insulin levels. But bread from the blue zones is either whole grain or sourdough, each with its own healthful characteristics.
- Choose foods that are recognizable: People in blue zones traditionally eat the whole food. They don’t throw the yolk away to make an egg-white omelet, or spin the fat out of their yogurt, or juice the fiber-rich pulp out of their fruits. They also don’t enrich or add extra ingredients to change the nutritional profile of their foods. Tofu is minimally processed, for example, while cheese-flavored corn puffs are highly processed.
- Never drink soft drinks (including diet soda): With very few exceptions, people in blue zones drank coffee, tea, water, and wine. Period. WATER Adventists recommend seven glasses of water daily. TEA People in all the blue zones drink tea. Okinawans nurse green tea all day. Green tea has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and several cancers. RED WINE People who drink-in moderation-tend to outlive those who don’t.
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