Blue Zones Project Blog

Cancer is still too common and deadly—even though early diagnosis and better treatments are available. Cancer death rates downward trends in mortality (cancer death rates) are the gold standard for evidence of progress against cancer. Adults overall, cancer death rates decreased 2.2% per year (on average) among males and 1.7% per year (on average) among females. In fact, for ages under 65, neoplasms (cancer) account for 26 percent of deaths while heart disease only 18 percent. For individuals over age 65, cancer fatalities drop to 22 percent, while cardiac disease deaths increase to 29 percent. Although both cancer and heart disease prognoses have improved since 1975, the rate of improvement for cancer lags behind that of heart disease.

It is said, “We are what we eat,” and, as a nation, we are eating too much! Further, we don’t fully understand what we are consuming. Americans increasingly rely on restaurant dining. In 1970, we spent just 26% of our food dollars on eating out whereas today’s modern family spends 44% on away-from-home meals. The average American today consumes about one-third of his or her food calories at restaurants and other food-service establishments, while 30 years ago only 18% of our calories were consumed in restaurants.

Being able to comprehend your own health issues makes a significant difference in your overall health outcomes. By following instructions, reading, correctly administering prescriptions, understanding your diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment—you will determine what happens to you and how well you live... perhaps even how long you live.

Taking your prescription and over-the-counter medications faithfully will help you stay healthier, live longer, be more productive, and reduce cost. Former U. S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop stated the obvious: “Drugs don’t work in people who don’t use them.” There are 3 billion prescriptions written each year but only about 50% are taken correctly. With only about half of all people for whom medications are prescribed adhering to the regimens, more than one hundred billion dollars is spent each year on avoidable hospitalizations—according to a New England Journal of Medicine article. An estimated 89,000 premature deaths from high blood pressure could be avoided if patients took their anti-hypertensive medicines faithfully.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, except for skin cancer that is generally not as serious except for melanoma. This year, an estimated 164,690 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Understanding how to best detect prostate cancer is the first step to helping.

Osteoporosis is a disease which discriminates against women. One half of all women and one fourth of all men over age fifty will have a fracture due to osteoporosis at some time during their lives. Approximately 19 billion dollars per year is spent in the United States to repair two million fractures (broken bones). Of these, 297,000 are hip fractures, 547,000 vertebral fractures, 397,000 wrists, 135,000 pelvic and 675,000 are fractures at other sites.

An estimated 20% of Americans use prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. This overuse or abuse of pain medications, sedatives, or stimulants can easily seduce the brain’s “reward pathways” into desiring more medications than are needed or are therapeutic.

August is Happiness Happens month. Happiness is an essential quality for a good life and a positive measure in successful Blue Zones Project communities. But what exactly is happiness?  

Over the years, coffee has had a variety of reputations from the very negative—allegedly stunting your growth, causing anxiety, elevating blood pressure, inducing miscarriages, causing heartburn—to the very positive: improved athletic prowess, reducing the risks of gallstones, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer.  

“Can relationships boost longevity and well-being? You probably know there are many ways to improve your well-being and chances of living longer such as exercising more or eating better. But did you know that maintaining meaningful relationships also may play an important role in health, happiness, and longevity?” These thoughts were shared in a Harvard Public Health article based on eight decades of research reminding us of the important connection between our physical and emotional health.