If drinking an elixir of bone broth, dehydrated pig blood, and celery juice while cold plunging in 39-degree spring and sea water could potentially extend your life, would you try it?

Chances are, you would, because the pursuit of longevity has become mainstream, with the global market expected to reach $183 billion by 2028.

But what if it was as easy as, say, living in Connecticut?

That’s what NowPatient’s newest index—inspired by the 2023 Netflix series “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”—suggests, as
it aims to predict the next ten states to become Blue Zones.

Blue Zones are where some of the world’s oldest people live, characterized by lower chronic disease and significantly longer life expectancies. Currently, there are five Blue Zones globally, located in Italy, Greece, Japan, Costa Rica and Loma Linda, California.

According to the index, Connecticut is the eighth most likely state to become the next Blue Zone. So we asked an expert for his take.

“We have to remember that Blue Zones are something researchers have been looking at for years, but the man who popularized it wasn’t a researcher, but a journalist,” says Andrew Garritson, vice president of education at the Nutritional Coaching Institute and founder of Argentum, a quality information control organization.

“By nature, his job is to capture attention. So when we see one of the Power 9 criteria for a Blue Zone being ‘Wine at 5’, we should be skeptical,” he says.

Research is pretty well established around alcohol consumption being associated with all-cause mortality, he adds, so to claim that ‘moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers’ is misleading.

“It’s correlation, not causation,” he says. “That said, everything is a trade-off. Moderate alcohol consumption can be the mechanism indicating that a community is more socially fulfilled—and social fulfillment and belonging has been shown to increase longevity.”

“So the physical trade-off of alcohol consumption can be offset by the social benefits that come from the environment it’s consumed in,” says Garritson.

In the new index citing Connecticut as a promising Blue Zone candidate, researchers looked at mental health, diet, exercise, religion, plant-based diets, sleep and life expectancy.

When asked for his take, Garritson largely agreed with the criteria observed to increase longevity. “It’s not necessarily about religion … per se,” says Garritson. “Religion might be the mechanism that shows you’re plugged into a social community.”

He adds that recent research showed that there was decreased all-cause mortality with a plant-based diet, but notes that people who follow plant-based diets can be at higher risk of nutrient deficiencies, which can lead to sickness.

“The key is to eat complete sources of protein in a plant-based diet, which requires a more mindful food selection,” he says.

So, does Connecticut have a shot at becoming the next Blue Zone? Yes, but the criteria for getting there might need a bit of a deeper dive.

WHEN IT COMES TO DIRECT, NO-NONSENSE, SCIENCE-BASED FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO LONGER, HEALTHIER LIVES, ANDREW GARRITSON DRILLS IT DOWN TO THESE FIVE HABITS:

• • Having a strong sense of purpose
  • Strength training 3 to 5 times per week
  • Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep
  • Drinking at least half your bodyweight in ounces of water per day
  • Managing obesity

Image: Julija – stock.adobe.com

Andrew Garritson has helped more than 2,000 people lose 40,000+ pounds of fat, gain 4,600+ pounds of lean body mass, and eliminate 100+ medications You can connect with him on LinkedIn.