Everything is ready for the second edition of the Longevity Fest, founded by Pietro Mereu and organized by Costa Smeralda Consortium and Ilex Production. A day full of ideas in a spectacular context like that of Porto Cervo. On 31 August, international level experts will discuss issues of strict scientific relevance such as the high concentration of centenarians in some areas of the world. It is actually a very complex phenomenon but one that has not stopped many scholars in this long search for the secrets of longevity. Among these is also the professor John Scapagniniprofessor of Clinical Nutrition at the University of Molise who has chosen to address the topic of blue areas from every point of view.
So what are the characteristics that make Blue Zones such as Ogliastra and Okinawa so incredibly close?
“The points in common are many. If we compare the blue zones, especially Okinawa and Sardinia, there are some common aspects related to physical activity that have nothing to do with sport. People maintain a very active, outdoor lifestyle throughout their lives. From a food point of view, they are also little contaminated by globalization given that they live almost exclusively on the products of the harvest, and develop thanks to very strong and reassuring social relationships. Life in this case is not polluted by the rhythms and stress of big cities».
In your opinion, is it possible to “measure” the health of an individual?
«There are many health biomarkers useful for defining the biological age of our body which can, moreover, differ from that of our identity card. Among the various biomarkers, one of the most interesting is undoubtedly the telomere, i.e. the species of caps that are found above our chromosomes and which can be compared to hourglasses. As we get older these elements get shorter and shorter. There are also genes called clock genes and as many parameters related to biochemistry that can also be used to understand whether we are aging well or badly. Not to mention the many imaging techniques that give us very useful information on the state of brain aging and of our osteoarticular and muscular system”.
2023-09-02 07:14:37
#Giovanni #Scapagnini #Genetics #Longevity #conquered #lifestyle
