You know, making it to 90 years old is pretty impressive in much of the world. But on a tiny Greek island in the North Aegean Sea called Icaria, 1)nonagenarians barely merit a second glance. Icaria could be the newest of the worlds so-called *Blue Zones. Theyre places where the people have unusually long life spans.

Dan Buettner has crossed the globe many times over the years in search of these Blue Zones, and he recently teamed up with the 2)AARP and National Geographic to study Icaria. He is joining us now from Athens, Greece.

你們知道嗎，在世界上的大多數(shù)地方，能活到九十歲是一件讓人刮目相看的事，但在北愛琴海一個(gè)叫伊卡里亞的希臘小島上，人們并不把九十來(lái)歲的人當(dāng)回事兒。伊卡里亞有可能成為世界上最新的藍(lán)區(qū)地區(qū)，藍(lán)區(qū)里的人通常壽命都很長(zhǎng)。

這些年，丹·比特納多次遍訪世界各地，尋找藍(lán)區(qū)。最近，他和美國(guó)退休人員協(xié)會(huì)和《國(guó)家地理》雜志一起對(duì)伊卡里亞進(jìn)行研究。他在希臘的雅典連線參加我們的節(jié)目。

Host: Mr. Buettner, how are you?

Dan: Phenomenal. Good to hear from you.

Host: So how exactly did you pinpoint this little island?

Dan: Well, I work with a team of demographers in Europe who basically look at census data throughout the globe. And we brought a team there and we found out that this has the highest percentage of 90-year-olds of any place else in the world. About one out of three people hit 90 here. And they have 20% lower rates of cancer, 50% lower rate of heart disease, and almost no 3)dementia.

Host: And just kind of learning about your work now, I mean Im imagining people doing like 15 4)jumping jacks at age 90 in the morning drinking a lot of fruit shakes. I mean is that whats going on or not really?

Dan: No. You know, about 20% of how long we live is dictated by our genes. The other 80% is lifestyle. They live in these mountain villages that nudge them into everyday physical activity. They have gardens. If they go to the church or they go to their friends house, it always occasions a small walk. But that adds up burning much more calories than going to a gym for 20 minutes a day.

They also have a diet thats very interesting. Its very high in olive oil. Its very high in fruits and vegetables. Its very high in this type of green. About 150 greens grow wild there and these greens have somewhere around 10 times the level of 5)antioxidants of red wine. And also, interestingly, they dont eat fish very much. Pirates had pushed this culture up into the highlands of Icaria. They couldnt depend on the sea as much as you might think.

Host: The fish industry is probably going to be very angry that we just said that. So anything different or surprising here compared to your other work?

Dan: Yes. What you see among these people is theyre drinking herbal teas every single day, morning and night. We had five of these herbal teas sent to Athens and analyzed for their chemical composition, and we found out that most of them were 6)diuretics. It turns out that diuretics actually lower blood pressure. So when youre chronically lowering blood pressure every day with these herbal teas, that does help explain why theres lower rates of heart disease. And thats something we havent seen in Okinawa or Costa Rica or Sardinia or any of the other Blue Zones.

Host: Dan, thank you for being with us.

Dan: Live large.

Host: You too, man.

主持人：比特納先生，你好嗎？丹：很好。聽到你的聲音很愉快。

主持人：你究竟是如何找到這個(gè)小島的？

丹：呃，我通常在歐洲與一群人口學(xué)家一起工作，他們主要是研究全球的人口普查數(shù)據(jù)。我們帶了一組人去伊卡里亞島，發(fā)現(xiàn)那里九十歲以上的人占當(dāng)?shù)厝丝诒壤侨澜缱罡叩?，大概每三人中就有一人?huì)活到九十歲。他們患上癌癥的幾率要低20%，心臟病低50%，而且?guī)缀鯖]有人患上老人癡呆。

主持人：我也只是現(xiàn)在才知曉你的工作，我是說(shuō)，在我的想象中，那些人九十歲了會(huì)在早上做15個(gè)跳躍運(yùn)動(dòng)，喝很多水果飲料。事實(shí)是這樣的嗎，還是說(shuō)這些都不準(zhǔn)確？

丹：不對(duì)。你知道嗎，我們壽命的長(zhǎng)短有20%是由我們的基因決定的，另外那80%的決定因素則是我們的生活方式。島上的人在山村里生活，這促使他們每天都需要做些體力活動(dòng)。他們有自己的花園。如果他們想去教堂或者是拜訪朋友，他們都需要走一小段路。這些活動(dòng)加起來(lái)所消耗的熱量比你每天在健身房做20分鐘運(yùn)動(dòng)消耗的還要多。

他們的飲食也很有意思。他們食用大量的橄欖油，大量的水果和蔬菜，很多這類綠色食物。那里有大約一百五十種野生綠色食物，這些綠色食物所含的抗氧化劑是紅酒的十倍。還有，有意思的是，他們不怎么吃魚，因?yàn)楹１I當(dāng)年把這些人都趕到伊卡里亞的高地上去了，他們并不像大家想象的那般依賴海里的食物。

主持人：我們剛才的話大概會(huì)惹漁業(yè)人士不高興了。那與你其他的研究相比，島上有沒有什么不同尋常的現(xiàn)象，或者有什么驚喜嗎？

丹：有。你會(huì)看到島上的人每天都在喝涼茶，不分白天黑夜地喝。我們把其中的五樣送到雅典去做化驗(yàn)，分析他們的化學(xué)成份，發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的主要成份是利尿劑。結(jié)果表明利尿劑確實(shí)能夠降血壓。也就是說(shuō)，他們長(zhǎng)期利用這些涼茶來(lái)降血壓，這也正好說(shuō)明他們心臟病發(fā)病率低的原因。這一點(diǎn)是我們?cè)谙駴_繩、哥斯達(dá)黎加和撒丁島等其他藍(lán)區(qū)都沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)的。

主持人：丹，謝謝你參與我們的節(jié)目。

丹：好好生活。

主持人：彼此彼此，伙計(jì)。翻譯：丁一

文化交流站

Blue Zone 藍(lán)區(qū)。這是美國(guó)人丹·比特納首創(chuàng)的概念，他把世界上一些人均壽命很長(zhǎng)的地區(qū)稱為Blue Zone。目前，被列入藍(lán)區(qū)的地方有意大利的撒丁島、日本的沖繩縣和美國(guó)加利福尼亞州的蒙特雷和羅馬琳達(dá)等。