About this episode
Dan Buettner discusses the Blue Zones and the factors contributing to longevity.
Back in 2005 Dan Buettner patented Blue Zones. He’s written 9 books, of which 5 were NY Times bestsellers, and has another one in the works. His 2023 Netflix documentary series “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” won Emmy awards and was widely viewed. Many of the main points that Dan has emphasized over the years—healthy diet (he highlighted whole grains, beans, nuts, greens, and “peasant food” here), physical activity, social engagement, and sense of purpose—are backed up by randomized trials and/or large, prospective studies, as I reviewed in Super Agers . In this interview, I asked Dan about the critique he’s faced, predominantly from Saul Newman, a biologist in the UK, about accuracy of the data for extreme longevity in the blue zones. In December 2025, two of his collaborators published in The Gerontologist a rebuttal response (open-access) entitled “The validity of Blue Zones demography: a response to critiques” on the rigorous demographic work they’ve done. We also discussed the marketing and business operations of Blue Zones LLC , the company he sold to Adventist Health in 2020. His son, Danny, is the EVP of the company and likely successor to Dan’s work in the…
People in this episode
Host: Eric Topol
Guest: Dan Buettner
Topics covered
- Blue Zones
- longevity
- health
- diet
- social engagement
- purpose
Keywords
- Blue Zones
- longevity
- Dan Buettner
- health
- diet
- social engagement
- purpose
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Blue Zones LLC, Adventist Health
Books & works: Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, Super Agers, The Gerontologist
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