The
Secrets
of Long
Life
When she turned 100, Marge Jetton
of Loma Linda, California, renewed her
driver’s license for another five years.
1 A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with
good genes inherited from your family, but it
also depends on good habits. So what’s the
formula for success? In a recent study, funded
5 in part by the U.S. National Institute on Aging,
scientists have focused on groups living in several
regions where exceptional longevity is the norm:
Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; and
the islands of Okinawa, Japan. Groups living in
10 these three areas of longevity offer three sets of
guidelines to follow.
Sardinians
Taking a break from farm work in the village
of Silanus, 75-year-old Tonino Tola tickles the
15 chin of his five-month-old grandson, Filippo,
who watches from his mother’s arms. “Goochi,
goochi, goo,” Tonino whispers. For this strong,
healthy, 1.8-meter-tall (six-foot-tall) man, these
two things—hard work and family—form the
20 foundation of his life. They may also help explain
why Tonino and his neighbors live so long.
A community of 2,400 people, Silanus is
located on the edge of a mountainous region
in central Sardinia, where dry fields rise
25 suddenly into mountains of stone. In a group
of villages in the heart of the region, which
scientists call the “Blue Zone,” 91 of the
17,865 people born between 1880 and 1900
have lived to their hundredth birthday—a rate
30 more than twice as high as the average
for Italy.
Why do they live so long? Lifestyle is part of
the answer. By 11:00 a.m. on this particular
day, the industrious Tonino has already milked
35 four cows, chopped wood, slaughtered1 a calf,
and walked four miles with his sheep. Now,
taking the day’s first break, he gathers his
grown children, grandson, and visitors around
the kitchen table. Giovanna, his wife, unties a
40 handkerchief containing a paper-thin flatbread
called carta da musica, pours some red wine,
and cuts slices of homemade pecorino cheese.
These Sardinians also benefit from their genetic
history. According to Paolo Francalacci of the
45 University of Sassari, 80 percent of them are
directly related to the first Sardinians, who
arrived in the area 11,000 years ago. Genetic
traits made stronger over generations may
favor longevity. Nutrition, too, is a factor.
50 The Sardinians’ diet is loaded with fruits and
vegetables, milk and milk products, fish, and
wine. Most of these items are homegrown.
1
To slaughter animals such as cows and sheep means
to kill them for their meat.
12B In Search of Long Life 195

103-year-old Giovanni Sannai regularly dines with his family in
Sardinia. Scientists say that older people who live near loved
ones tend to live longer.
Adventists
It’s Friday morning, and Marge Jetton is
55 speeding down the highway in her purple
Cadillac.2 She wears dark sunglasses to protect
her eyes from the sun’s glare, though her head
is barely higher than the steering wheel. Marge,
who turned 101 in September, is late for one of
60 several volunteer commitments she has today.
Already this morning she’s eaten breakfast,
walked 1.6 km (1 mile), and lifted weights. “I
don’t know why God gave me the privilege of
living so long,” she says, pointing to herself.
65 “But look what he did.”
Marge, like many other residents of Loma Linda,
California, surrounded by orange trees and
polluted air, is a Seventh-day Adventist. The
196 Unit 12 Quality of Life
Adventist Church has always practiced and been
70 a proponent of healthy living. It forbids smoking,
alcohol consumption, and foods forbidden
in the Bible, such as pork. The church also
discourages the consumption of other meat, rich
foods, caffeinated drinks, as well as most spices.
75 Adventists also observe a sacred day of the week
on Saturday, assembling and socializing with
members to relieve stress.
A study found that the Adventists’ habit of
consuming beans, soy milk,3 tomatoes, and other
80 fruits lowered their risk of developing certain
cancers. It also suggested that eating whole
wheat bread, drinking five glasses of water a day,
and, most surprisingly, consuming four servings
of nuts a week reduced their risk of heart disease.
85 And it found that not eating red meat had been
helpful in avoiding both cancer and heart disease.
In the end, the study reached a surprising
conclusion, says Gary Fraser of Loma Linda
University: the average Adventist’s lifespan
90 surpasses that of the average Californian by four
to ten years. That compelling evidence makes the
Adventists one of the most-studied cultures of
longevity in the United States.
Okinawans
The first thing you notice about Ushi Okushima
95
is her laugh. It fills the room with pure joy. This
rainy afternoon she sits comfortably wrapped in
a blue kimono. Her thick hair is combed back
from her suntanned4 face, revealing alert, green
100 eyes. Her smooth hands lie folded peacefully
in her lap. At her feet sit her friends, Setsuko
and Matsu Taira, cross-legged on a tatami mat,5
drinking tea.
Ushi has recently taken a new job. She also tried
105 to run away from home after a dispute with her
daughter, Kikue. A relative caught up with her in
another town 60 kilometers (40 miles) away and
notified her daughter. Not long ago she started
wearing perfume too. When asked about the
110 perfume, she jokes that she has a new boyfriend.
Predictable behavior for a young woman,
perhaps, but Ushi is 103.
 102-year-old Okinawan Kamada Nakazato joins her family and
friends for a cup of tea several times a week.
With an average life expectancy of 78 years
for men and 86 years for women, Okinawans
115 are among the world’s longest-lived people.
This is undoubtedly due in part to Okinawa’s
warm and inviting climate and scenic beauty.
Senior citizens living in these islands tend to
enjoy years free from disabilities. Okinawans
120 have very low rates of cancer and heart disease
compared to American seniors. They are also
less likely to develop dementia6 in old age,
says Craig Wilcox of the Okinawa
Centenarian7 Study.
125 A lean diet of food grown on the island and
a philosophy of moderation—“eat until your
stomach is 80 percent full”—may also be
factors. Ironically, this healthy way of eating
was born of hardship. Ushi Okushima grew
130 up barefoot8 and poor; her family grew sweet
potatoes, which formed the core of every
meal. During World War II, when the men
of the island joined the army, Ushi and her
friend Setsuko fled to the center of the island
135 with their children. “We experienced terrible
hunger,” Setsuko recalls.
84-year-old Okinawan Fumiyasu Yamakawa
practices yoga every day, in training for an annual
decathlon. His favorite events are the high jump
and the pole vault.
Many older Okinawans belong to a moai, a
mutual support network that provides financial,
emotional, and social help throughout life.
140 Ikigai may be another key to their success. The
word translates roughly to “that which makes
one’s life worth living,” and it is something
that is different for each person. “My ikigai is
right here,” says Ushi with a slow sweep of her
145 hand that indicates her friends Setsuko
and Maira. “If they die, I will wonder why
I am living.”
2
Cadillac is an American brand of car.
3
Soy milk is a drink made from soy beans.
4
If you are suntanned, the sun has turned your skin an attractive brown color.
5
Tatami mats, made of woven straw, are the traditional material for floors in
Japanese houses.
Dementia is a serious illness of the mind.
6
7
A centenarian is someone who is a hundred years old or older.
8
Someone who is barefoot is not wearing anything on their feet.
12B In Search of Long Life 197