The Blue Zone of Sardinia: An intergenerational epidemiological study on nutrition and its application in public health

Abstract

This doctoral thesis addresses a new paradigm, Blue Zone. The Blue Zone concept is integrated into what has been called population longevity: “areas where the population is characterized by a significantly higher level of longevity compared to neighboring regions, provided that this exceptional longevity of the population has been fully validated”. First, the Blue Zone concept is placed in a concrete framework, and later the study is focused on the Blue Zone of Sardinia as a positive and evolutionary nutritional model. The predominant characteristics of each Blue Zone are analyzed within the selected longevity determinants. The Blue Zones Project®, developed in the United States and based on the journalistic work of Dan Buettner in conjunction with National Geographic, is described. It continues with a historical study of the diet of the centenarians of Sardinia to finally compare it with the diet of the new generations and see the degree of intergenerational integration. At the same time, the diet of the child population of the longevity epicenter, Villagrande Strisaili, (with the lowest rate of overweight and obesity on the island), is compared with the diet of an urban school group, from the city of Sassari. Four Blue Zones have been identified and validated: Okinawa (Japan), Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece) and the central region of Sardinia (Italy).