On the “First Opinion Podcast” this week, I spoke with Eric Topol and Shelley Wood about their recent STAT piece on 25 years of blue zones: geographically isolated places where, according to some, the local population live much longer than expected. Topol and Wood looked at the science and profit-making around blue zones and concluded that in many ways, they aren’t real. For instance, as they point out, the first blue zones were found in small villages in Sardinia, where many birth records had been destroyed during World War II. There’s also a profit motive in some of the continued blue zone chatter.
Nevertheless, many blue zone concepts — and the Netflix documentary that brought it back to the fore — are worthwhile, they said: a healthy diet, clean air, community and family connection, exercise.
They also answered my most pressing question: Why are the zones blue instead of another color? You’ll have to listen to find out.
Recommendation of the week: I haven’t yet finished it, but I’m going to take a chance and recommend “The Bewitching,“ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of “Mexican Gothic.” “The Bewitching,” which I wish I were reading right now, bounces between Mexico and New England across the 1900s, 1930s, and 1990s to tell a story of witches, folklore, and family.
