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{{Talk header}}
==Humorous references==
{{Old AfD multi |date=22 July 2019 |result='''keep''' |page=Blue Zone}}
The reference of "Tiberium successfully cleared" is certainly funny but i am not shure it pertains to the article or should at least be more clearly labeled as to be a reference to the "blue zones" in Command&Conquer video game.
{{WikiProject banner shell|class=C|
-Dominique <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 11:17, 20 January 2011 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
{{WikiProject Alternative views|importance=Low}}
{{WikiProject Food and drink|importance=Mid}}
{{WikiProject Health and fitness|importance=Mid}}
{{WikiProject Longevity}}
{{WikiProject Veganism and Vegetarianism|importance=Mid}}
{{WikiProject Skepticism|importance=Mid}}
{{WikiProject Medicine|importance=Low}}
{{WikiProject Psychology|importance=Low}}
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{{WPMED/Evidence}}


{{Page views}}
==Marketing Red-Flag==


== Ig Nobel award ==
I'm going to unequivocally state, right now, that I agree that Dan Buettner basically created this idea out of "whole cloth." The original meaning in the 2004 article has been vastly distorted by someone with a personal, financial interest in promoting cruises to these alleged "blue zones."] 10:20, 20 February 2010 (UTC)


because it is not a reliable source meeting ], and its message is redundant with what already exists under the ''Critiques'' section.


While the criticism is likely valid, we do not need to treat the sources like as anything more than ] and ]. Nothing meeting ] is added to the discussion or sources. ] (]) 17:33, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
Exactly. I was saddened to read this wiki entry, as it is the first one I'd come across that read as a ad for the author that created the term and his website/businesses rather than an article about the subject matter. Could someone remove the info not relevant to Blue Zones, that being anything other than that addressing the concept of areas where people live to old ages? It is this type of article that brings justification to the idea that wiki is not worth the term encyclopedia. ] (]) 06:23, 29 October 2012 (UTC)


:Yes, a "satirical" award offered to research that {{tq|"found no traction in the scientific community."}} ] (]) 21:16, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
==Origin of the name Blue zone ==
::The Ig Nobel committee is not making fun of the researcher, but of the blue zones concept. The fact the researcher has won a globally-covered award ridiculing the blue zone idea proposed here is directly relevant to the blue zone wikipedia page, in the same way that e.g. the Blue Zones owner Dr Mehmet Oz has his three Pigasus awards for misinformation in science on his bio page.
I went back to the original meaning of this page entitled ''Blue zone'' and defined as a generic name until version of 30 July 2007. Also this generic name seems to be first scientifically published in 2004 (citation is also given). Thus it is not the name of a single project. As far as I know a few different projects are involved.--] (]) 16:24, 14 October 2009 (UTC)
::It is appropriate to publish globally recognized criticism, which has been handed out by a Nobel prize winner. I don't know what is difficult about this for the wikipedia edits team, but if the ridicule of an established idea is sufficiently well received it wins a global award, that criticism should be seen on wikipedia. ] (]) 14:09, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
:Please see the note under 'pyrrho the skipper', and also please consider that the critiques are not redundant with those already stated: the paper is dozens of pages long and raises a huge number of points that are neither addressed by the blue zones proponents nor other (usually later) critics of the concept.
:I again point you to the fact that notable awards raising awareness of msinformation in science, such as the Pigasus awards given to Blue Zones LLC owner Dr Oz, are typical and acceptable fare for citations on wikipedia. Please leave these edits up, thank you, as the curtailing of criticism here has gone on far too long. ] (]) 14:13, 15 September 2024 (UTC)


::No. The Ig Noble Prize is given for research which is funny or unobvious, not because it has withstood scientific scrutiny. The first Ig Nobles went to the guy who kept trying to prove homeopathy, the inventor of the junk bond, the guy who promoted fake evidence of space aliens in ancient civilizations, and you get the idea.
* I am sorry that this edit is not in accordance with Wiki preceding. I hope that someone will be generous enough to reformat it and remove these two sentences. I came to this wiki page looking for empirical research and verifiable facts for a theory proposed by an author. Instead of having data and facts this page was advertisement for a book. This theory is without any scientific research to substantiate its claims. This is clearly a case in which wikipedia has been infiltrated by a PR firm selling a book. Don't let it be a black eye for the site!!! <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 01:36, 10 April 2009 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
::So if Newman has a reliable critique, one would cite Newman's papers directly, or secondary sources which referred to Newman's papers. Using Google Scholar to search for papers by Saul Newman containing the word "centenarian" I find three, including the one in question. All three are unpublished preprints, they come with warnings they are not peer reviewed. So even if Newman is right, the reliable sourcing not wonderful. -- ] (]) 16:58, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
:::Those critiques were given to people who were the butt of the joke. Now, Ig Nobels are given to people making the joke. The shift is pretty clear, especially in the change of the wording of the prize (from about 15 years ago) to supporting funny science. Also pretty clear is the attempt at evading the core critique I raised here.
:::That is, given other international prizes critical of other pseudoscience concepts are fairly and routinely cited as critiques on wikipedia, such as Blue Zone owner Dr Oz's three Pigasus awards in pseudoscience, why is this award gate-kept and excluded form this page?
:::The responses have not answered this, and many other, basic questions. ] (]) 13:18, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
::::This year's Ig Noble Peace Prize to B.F. Skinner for pigeon-guided munitions is duly mentioned in the ] article. But not to validate pigeon-guided munitions as contributing to world peace.
::::It may be that Newman has a valid critique. It would be helpful if there were either peer-reviewed published articles or secondary sources which validate Newman's work. I searched Newman's non-published papers in Google Scholar in part to see if ''citations'' to his work might lead to other properly published papers debunking blue zones.
::::Failing that, it might be possible to cite and describe Newman's critique, but I prefer leave that decision to more experienced editors in this area.
::::But citing the Ig Noble thingie as validating the correctness of Newman's work is nonsense. And Dr. Oz being recognized for pseudoscience seems utterly irrelevant. -- ] (]) 14:06, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
:::::It's not irrelevant. The Blue Zones owner received three awards for pseudoscience, which are less-well-known than the one awarded here. These awards are cited on wikipedia. Why is the Ig Nobel, rewarding the ridiculing of Blue Zones as a concept and vitally - awarded by a panel dominantly composed of Nobel laureates - not valid?
:::::You haven't answered that basic question. ] (]) 18:41, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
::::::To be clear, Dr Oz is the owner of Blue Zones LLC. There is a direct equivalence between these awards being cited on his page and the Ig Nobel being cited here. What is stopping the citation of this criticism? How widely acknowledged does criticism have to be? Are Moungi Bawendi or Esther Duflo not a 'trustworthy' source to you? Seriously? ] (]) 18:43, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
:::::::The paper by Saul Justin Newman was not properly peer-reviewed . I have read his paper and it is good. According to Newman himself he was turned down by multiple journals so he couldn't publish his paper, he promoted some kind of conspiracy that he was being censored. I find this unlikely. He just seems to be lazy with the peer-review process. He could easily find a valid journal to publish his paper. The fact that he hasn't published his paper properly is not Misplaced Pages's problem, it is his. If he does manage to publish it in a good academic journal then we could cite it. Case closed.
::::::: All the content about his award is irrelevant to this article. As for recent sourcing on Newman and Blue zones there is a self-published piece here . Again this is no good for Misplaced Pages. There is some other recent coverage here , , which also isn't great. In a nutshell a wait and see position is best. It all depends if he gets his research to peer review. ] (]) 20:19, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
::::::::Again, you are simply not answering basic questions and diverting onto your own unfounded qualitative judgements, on the basis of what seems to be your own lazy guesswork. The question was: why is a major award for disinformation citable elsewhere on wikipedia, but not here?
::::::::You have not answered that question. At all.
::::::::It seems this page is just a perching-post for fanboys.
::::::::The content of an award for debunking the blue zones is not 'irrelevant to this article'. The article is about blue zones. So please, inform us all,
::::::::why do you feel you can ignore the six Nobel laureates on the panel of this award? Do you not see the absurdity? Why is such criticism highly visible on other wiki sites, but not here? ] (]) 17:59, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::Your behaviour is problematic and you do not appear to have learned anything since the last time you were . Your paper was not peer-reviewed and you seem to be using Misplaced Pages to promote yourself. Also see ] which has already been linked above. This is the Misplaced Pages article for Blue zones not your award. Instead of attacking other users here perhaps you should spend more time trying to get your paper published. Like I said if there are ] that mention your research we can include such information but this currently is not the case. This talk-page is for suggestions to improve the article. You have not listed any reliable sources. ] (]) 19:17, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::I have posted this at ] ] (]) 14:52, 20 September 2024 (UTC)


== Fudging? ==
* I have no idea how to point this out, or if this is even a legit concern, but it appears that this entry is a whole cloth creation by the person who also created the entry for the author of the book by the same title (and which is used as a source). The account that created this and the author entry did no other edits. On my "home" wiki network (Wiki Spot), I'd feel comfortable handling this, but I'm just pointing it out and leaving this to the Wikipedians more familiar with local standards and all those regulations. Do not reply to this IP's talk address: I am raising the somewhat questionable history of this entry as a point of information for editors familiar with Misplaced Pages. (Incidentally, the author is on tour supporting the book) ] 05:56, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
* As a follow up and clarification: In other words, I don't know the No Original Research versus "I published a book with a concept that I invented, so I am creating an entry about that concept" works. Still, it seems questionable enough to raise a flag. ] (]) 18:31, 11 May 2008 (UTC)


I recently head that criticism of the concept includes the allegation that longevity claims were, in part, due to people give false ages or stating that relatives who had died were alive in order to get pension checks. Can any-one find a source for this criticism? ] (]) 17:34, 12 October 2024 (UTC)
== Specific Statistics from the Blue Zones? ==


:Saul Justin Newman. e.g., https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2024/sep/ucl-demographers-work-debunking-blue-zone-regions-exceptional-lifespans-wins-ig-nobel-prize ] (]) 13:45, 13 October 2024 (UTC)
Thanks for the information about the four Blue Zones: 1.) Barbagia region in Sardinia; 2.) Okinawa, Japan; 3.) Loma Linda, California; 4.) Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.
::Newman failed to get his research published in a peer-reviewed journal then promoted a conspiracy theory that everyone is out to suppress his research. He's been socking on this very talk-page and has threatened users with abuse. Due to all these facts I wouldn't support mentioning him on the article, only if we have very good ] that documents his research. So far the sourcing is not that great. ] (]) 14:50, 13 October 2024 (UTC)
:::{{ping|Psychologist Guy}} {{tq|only if we have very good WP:RS that documents his research}} we do, see below. ] (]) 21:24, 17 November 2024 (UTC)


==Original research being added==
I am wondering if there are detailed statistics, such as the average life-spans, the percentages above 90 or 100 years, and so on in these regions. How outstanding are these statistics as compared with other countries and/or regions? --Roland 09:59, 25 January 2009 (UTC)


@]
i second the call for more statistics.
how old are those people exactly? how much of a statistical outlier are they?
are there any other factors to consider? f.e.: a high average age in a region does not prove longevity, it might also be the case that all young people moved away.
and even outright fraud cannot be ruled out in some cases. in greec and italy families are known to keep their deceased grandpa alive on paper for decades, for pension-fraud purposes. in societies where old people are revered the old are known to embellish their age: the 60-year old claim to be 100 years old, the 80-year old say they are 150, and so on (of course the reason old age is revered is usually because it is rare. if reaching a high age is a common occurrence people are more likely to claim they are younger than their actual age)
] (]) 22:23, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


*This paper does not mention blue zones.
== Is this actually a significant phenomenon? ==
*As above, Saul Justin Newman's research was not peer-reviewed or published in a reliable source. ] fails ].
*This paper does not mention blue zones either


Per ] policy we can only include references that are on topic. ] (]) 16:35, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
If in Okanawa, the average life is 7 years longer that of an average American, it's certainly significant. However, sub populations (such as whites) in America live significantly longer than the average American, and a large number of average years of life can be accounted for by obesity alone (6-7 years according to Misplaced Pages). Perhaps it should be noted in the article that the magical properties of turmeric may not need to tapped to predict the results illustrated by the Blue Zone concept. ] (]) 21:20, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


== NPOV ==
:In Okinawa, the life expectancy is only one year higher than Japan as a whole.


This pseudoscientific idea should be described as what it is, a marketing gimmick.
:: one year difference seems like it might very well just be a coincidence. <small><span class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 22:07, 11 November 2013 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


* - biorxiv
Also, legitimate researchers identified Okinawa as a region of high longevity; that doesn't mean that those marketing the "Blue Zones" book have merit or legitimacy.] 10:21, 20 February 2010 (UTC)


* - science.anu.edu.au
== Tobacco smoking? References please! ==


* - aljazeera
The note about the lack of longevity of smokers, is counter intuitive to my real life experiences. Heavy smokers are over-represented in the group of centenarians I know, or know of, that have been very active and healthy at old age (or was, in the case that they are now diseased). (But the most repeated as an counter-example, old-age active, famous, heavy smoker, ], only lived to be 91 and was at poor health after the age of 85).


* - livescience
Smoking (the nicotine mostly, but tobacco contains many other substances that effect the nervous system) cure or inhibit several age related sicknesses, like gut inflammations and senile dementia, as well as many other, not age related, deceases (e.g. schizophrenia, depression, migraine) that may lead to early deaths or poor physical health. Granted, all of the heavy smoking centenarians that I know of, is/was cigar or pipe smokers and none of them smoked tobacco from USA (known for its high content of pesticides and heavy metals (most notably, the radioactive lead-210 and polonium-210)).


* - nytimes
Also, within USA, where most studies of the health effects of smoking have been conducted, smoking is often performed in stressful situations, or in combination with other, heavier, drugs (e.g. alcohol); often indoors in smoke cloud rooms. While in countries where there are a disproportional high number of centenarians that are heavy smokers (e.g. rural Cuba and Spain), smoking is usually performed in more relaxed situations, often outdoors, with no heavier complementary drug use then perhaps a cup of tea, or a similar "light" drug, if any. Also, those parts of the world have less polluted air then USA, so the ill effects caused by smoking on the respiratory system is not as accentuated. Such countries also have more non-smokers that reach old age at good health then USA; perhaps there is a threshold where the ill effects of tobacco, accelerated by a negative environment, overpowers the good health effect of tobacco smoking.


* - theconversation
PS. Alcoholics with a moderate daily alcohol intake, that started to drink at an early age, are also over-represented in the group of centenarians I known (none is still alive). But while in splendid physical condition at old age, they had alcohol caused dementia since they where middle-aged.


* - ucl.ac.uk
--] (]) 09:27, 2 November 2011 (UTC)


* - nytimes
well, i think you might want to take into account that at certain times in the 20th century there were not much non-smokers (so there wouldn't be much non-smokers left alive either), the practice was encouraged among women to loose weight and among men to give them something to do in the trenches of ww1 (and in ww2 to stick it to the nazi's, who were anti-smoking).


* - arstechnica
you do have a point about the type of smoking having an effect: day-round smoking of cigarettes is generally considered to be much more detrimental to your health than the occasional pipe (or chewing: lots of people chewed their tobacco back then)


* - acsh
tobacco-smoke was originally used as a medicine by native americans. it seems there must have been something to that, given how widespread it was used. the theory is that it was used against (bacterial) infections and as a primitive disinfectant.


* - slate
but while i agree that there are presumably also some health-benefits to smoking it seems the total net-effect is negative (and thus those elderly heavy-smokers are the outliers, not the norm). this ill effect was first discovered by german scientists doing epidemiology studies about a century ago (the correlation between smoking and reduced life-span was later hidden by american tobacco-producers)
] (]) 21:56, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


* - sciencebasedmedicine
== Advert tag ==


Many more can be found by googling "blue zone pseudoscience".
I'm adding an "advert" tag to this article. Just looking from the comments above, I'm not the only one who has concerns.


Mister Newman probably doesn't understand how Misplaced Pages works, but that is no justification to not mention the criticism (or to describe a marketing gimmick as if it is real science). We need MEDRS to make medical claims, but not to say that a claim has been criticized. ] (]) 18:07, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
Also, out of 9 references:
* 1 is "The Blue Zones" book itself
* 2 are other articles written by Dan Buettner
* 3 are from the bluezones-dot-com website


:We already have that in the first sentence of the 'Critiques' section: ''"The concept of blue zone communities having exceptional longevity has been challenged by the absence of evidence-based information."'' The rest of the section sufficiently supports that position. ] (]) 18:28, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
...which seems a little heavy on the original research. ] (]) 14:01, 25 November 2012 (UTC)
::Hiding criticism in a section at the bottom of the article is not recommended. ] is not a great journal. And since they are making medical claims their claims require sources that meet the ] standards, and it doesn't look like they do. This is near the bottom of ]; some statistical trickery based on incomplete and unreliable data. ] (]) 19:16, 25 October 2024 (UTC)


{{od|::}}
PS: I'm really tempted to add similar tags to ] and ]. Anyone have an opinion on the matter? :) ] (]) 14:10, 25 November 2012 (UTC)
I moved this bit from the article to the talkpage because it is not supported by MEDRS and "is proposed to be" is a ] word. Worse yet, these are not even ] in this context.


<nowiki>] in blue zones is proposed to be as much as a decade or longer, compared to the average world life expectancy of 73 years in 2019.<ref name="mikhail">{{cite web |author1=Alexa Mikhail |title=A look inside America's only blue zone city—home to some of the world's longest-living people |url=https://fortune.com/well/2023/04/02/longevity-tips-loma-linda-california-blue-zone-city/ |publisher=Fortune |access-date=2 January 2024 |date=2 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="ie">{{cite web |author1=Marcia Wendorf |title=People routinely live over 100 years in global "blue zones". Should you move? |url=https://interestingengineering.com/health/people-routinely-live-beyond-the-age-of-100-in-these-rare-blue-zones |publisher=Interesting Engineering |access-date=4 January 2024 |date=10 February 2022}}</ref>{{medcn|date=January 2024}}</nowiki>
== Characteristics section & Venn diagram ==


Where did this {{tq|a decade or longer}} claim come from? Scientists usually don't make such ].
I'm removing some edits made by ]. The edits were made to the "Characteristics" section, and add unnecessary information to what was originally a concise list. As well, a few of the points in the list have been changed so that it no longer matches the Venn diagram which illustrates the section.


Since this is an article about a fringe theory which is not the scientific consensus we should present it as such. The criticism should be presented next to the claims, not in a separate section. It would also be unfair if we did it the other way around (starting an article with a bunch of criticism and then at the end an explanation of what it is actually about).
And... now I'm looking more closely at the Venn diagram. Is this diagram really in the public domain? The picture has this summary: "Venn Diagram created by the Quest Network to illustrate longevity clues in Blue Zones." There's a link to the bluezones.com website, but when I follow the link it takes me to a login page - which makes me suspect that the diagram might be copyrighted. ] (]) 21:39, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


] (]) 19:22, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
I'm questioning the correctness of one aspect of the Venn diagram. Fava beans are probably not eaten much in Sardinia since most people from the island suffer from Favism. Actually, from what I gather, being allergic to fava beans might be the cause of longevity, rather than eating them.
http://thebittersweetgourmet.com/fava-beans-favism/ <!-- Template:Unsigned IP --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 17:26, 21 March 2017 (UTC)</small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


:There are no MEDRS sources for this article because no such sources have been published, and the topic is ] for medical content in the encyclopedia.
I would be interested to learn more about favism as well. Do you have more information relating to it? I did some research and found that it is a very common thing in Sardinia but was unable to find any reference to what you stated that "being allergic to fava beans might be the cause of longevity". I would have guessed it was the other way around that the centenarians of Sardinia might be the ones not allergic. Excited to learn more and discuss! ] (]) 15:35, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
:It's not clear a) why you are disputing NPOV, and b) what you propose to change and support with a good source.
:Please state your proposal: "change x to y" and provide a source(s). ] (]) 20:15, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
::Before I answer your other questions, I am very curious, do you agree with the edit I mentioned above (moving that text from the article to the talkpage)? ] (]) 20:46, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
:::Your dispute isn't clear. The Mikhail article says "up to 10 years longer" and the Wendorf article title says "live over 100 years". the 2019 world life expectancy pre-covid was 73 years. The unfounded blue zone benefit of living a "decade or longer" seems obvious from these sources.
:::Give us some text and a source to consider. ] (]) 21:03, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
::::It is not clear to me what is unclear to you. We seem to agree that Blue zones are not a real thing but just a way to make money. I listed quite a few sources that express various levels of skepticism. Currently, a casual reader would probably not even notice that this is an article about a marketing scheme and not about a scientific concept. I believe we should make that clear, and list some of the criticism. I am pretty sure more sources are available if we search for them. ] (]) 21:12, 17 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::]: what do you want to say, and what source supports that? The article seems clear to me that it is a marketing term. ] (]) 22:08, 17 November 2024 (UTC)
::::::That page says that edit requests should ideally be in the form change X to Y. But this ain't no edit request. ] (]) 08:19, 18 November 2024 (UTC)
::::::Polygnotus the sources you list are nearly all on Saul Justin Newman which runs into the issue of ] because many of those sources seem to be focusing on Newman specifically. He's been involved in a publicity stunt to promote his own research. The blue zone concept is much more than just some recent criticisms from Newman. There is another source on Newman here , I am not saying the sources are all unreliable. There is a reply to Newman here which says all his criticisms are invalid. So I would rather wait and create a Misplaced Pages article for Saul Justin Newman (I will create it in a few days). We could mention Newman on this article but we do not want undue weight. Most of the sourcing would be better on his own article. ] (]) 22:34, 17 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::::{{tq|There is a reply to Newman here which says all his criticisms are invalid}} yes, that was written by Dan Buettner and hosted on danbuettner.com. Dan Buettner is the dude who ]. Unsurprisingly, when you google the names at the bottom, they all have a lot to gain by promoting this concept. I don't think its undue to mention the fact that something is untrue in a Misplaced Pages article about that thing. We either define it as a scientific concept or as a marketing scheme, and we gonna need those sources when describing it as a marketing scheme based on shoddy science. Usually pseudoscience only gets debunked by a few people and ignored by the rest of mainstream science. ] (]) 07:57, 18 November 2024 (UTC)
::::::::I generally agree with what you are saying and do not oppose mentioning Newman's research, however, it needs to be done correctly and not read as overly promotional or with undue weight so we have an article that focuses too much on him and his award. What I am objecting to is poor edits like this which is what we have had to put up with on this article. The Critiques section definitely should be expanded with good sources. ] (]) 16:26, 18 November 2024 (UTC)


== Map ==
In the diagram, "sunshine" should be in Loma Linda's circle, but "culturally isolated" should not. We probably only see rain on 10-15 days a year, and for most of the time there is not a cloud in sight, with daytime temperatures between 80-110. Only around 40% of households are totally Adventist, most Loma Linda residents do not work in the city (and vice-versa), and Adventists and non-Adventists interact with each other all the time. Loma Linda is part of an urban sprawl that extends from Santa Monica to Indio, with San Bernardino, Redlands and Riverside all bordering us - hardly isolated! 22:10, 4 November 2018 (UTC) <!-- Template:Unsigned --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) </small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
The article uses ], so clicking on the thumb to get a larger view only shows a blank map. Does anyone object to width=500 and float=center, to make it easier to distinguish the locations and move it inline rather than as a side thumb? ]&nbsp;] 18:13, 10 December 2024 (UTC)


:Is the map needed? It's based on false information perpetuated by marketers. Having it in the article gives credibility to the marketing story and myth that such zones actually exist. The content of the article and critique section are sufficient to describe the topic without a map. ] (]) 18:22, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
== Theoretical statistics. ==
::Doesn't matter to me if it's removed. If consensus is to keep, though, I'd like it easier to read. ]&nbsp;] 18:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

The mean lifetime of people from small populations have larger ] than the mean lifetime of people from big populations. So extreme mean lifetime is supposed to occur in a small population. There need not be a ''reason'' why some small population has extreme mean lifetime. It will occur by pure chance. (If the standard deviation of lifetimes of all people is ''L'' years, then the standard deviation of the mean of a sample of ''n'' people is ''Ln''<sup>−1/2</sup>). ] (]) 10:05, 13 January 2016 (UTC).

== Blue Zone Locations ==

Hi All, I'm new to the editing world of wikipedia so wanted to reach out before making any changes. I recently read the Blue Zones book and it is my understanding that there are only 5 confirmed Blue Zone locations in the world while the site states there are 7 "The seven regions identified and discussed by Buettner in the book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest". When I follow the citation it simply cites the book but I believe this is false. I believe it should just be Sardinia, Okinawa, Icaria, Nicoya and Loma Linda. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Thanks!] (]) 20:58, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

==Trademark question==
What I think that I saw in the URL cited as evidence of a trademark for "Blue Zone" is from a 2012-2014 effort to trademark the term "Blue Zone" (rather than evidence of an already-existing trademark on the name).
<blockquote>
'''Blue Zones''' is a ] of Blue Zones, LLC<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn85335274&docId=ORC20120214011044#docIndex=3&page=1|title=USPTO TSDR Case Viewer|website=tsdr.uspto.gov|access-date=2017-03-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn85335451&docId=ORC20120306013655#docIndex=3&page=1|title=USPTO TSDR Case Viewer|website=tsdr.uspto.gov|access-date=2017-03-14}}</ref> that reflects the lifestyle and the environment of the world's longest-lived people.

</blockquote>
Since the term has been widely used before that application, how could that concept be hijacked by a private commercial interest? ] (]) 23:58, 1 July 2017 (UTC)

==Evidence==
The article basically takes the word of the people who own this trademark without critical analysis. This article needs independent sourcing. ] (] · ] · ]) 08:20, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 18:29, 10 December 2024

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Ig Nobel award

This edit was reverted because it is not a reliable source meeting WP:BMI, and its message is redundant with what already exists under the Critiques section.

While the criticism is likely valid, we do not need to treat the sources like this as anything more than WP:UNDUE and WP:NOTNEWS. Nothing meeting WP:V is added to the discussion or sources. Zefr (talk) 17:33, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

Yes, a "satirical" award offered to research that "found no traction in the scientific community." Pyrrho the Skipper (talk) 21:16, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
The Ig Nobel committee is not making fun of the researcher, but of the blue zones concept. The fact the researcher has won a globally-covered award ridiculing the blue zone idea proposed here is directly relevant to the blue zone wikipedia page, in the same way that e.g. the Blue Zones owner Dr Mehmet Oz has his three Pigasus awards for misinformation in science on his bio page.
It is appropriate to publish globally recognized criticism, which has been handed out by a Nobel prize winner. I don't know what is difficult about this for the wikipedia edits team, but if the ridicule of an established idea is sufficiently well received it wins a global award, that criticism should be seen on wikipedia. 2601:182:D000:C640:8C36:AA3D:EA4B:4A44 (talk) 14:09, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
Please see the note under 'pyrrho the skipper', and also please consider that the critiques are not redundant with those already stated: the paper is dozens of pages long and raises a huge number of points that are neither addressed by the blue zones proponents nor other (usually later) critics of the concept.
I again point you to the fact that notable awards raising awareness of msinformation in science, such as the Pigasus awards given to Blue Zones LLC owner Dr Oz, are typical and acceptable fare for citations on wikipedia. Please leave these edits up, thank you, as the curtailing of criticism here has gone on far too long. 2601:182:D000:C640:8C36:AA3D:EA4B:4A44 (talk) 14:13, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
No. The Ig Noble Prize is given for research which is funny or unobvious, not because it has withstood scientific scrutiny. The first Ig Nobles went to the guy who kept trying to prove homeopathy, the inventor of the junk bond, the guy who promoted fake evidence of space aliens in ancient civilizations, and you get the idea.
So if Newman has a reliable critique, one would cite Newman's papers directly, or secondary sources which referred to Newman's papers. Using Google Scholar to search for papers by Saul Newman containing the word "centenarian" I find three, including the one in question. All three are unpublished preprints, they come with warnings they are not peer reviewed. So even if Newman is right, the reliable sourcing not wonderful. -- M.boli (talk) 16:58, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
Those critiques were given to people who were the butt of the joke. Now, Ig Nobels are given to people making the joke. The shift is pretty clear, especially in the change of the wording of the prize (from about 15 years ago) to supporting funny science. Also pretty clear is the attempt at evading the core critique I raised here.
That is, given other international prizes critical of other pseudoscience concepts are fairly and routinely cited as critiques on wikipedia, such as Blue Zone owner Dr Oz's three Pigasus awards in pseudoscience, why is this award gate-kept and excluded form this page?
The responses have not answered this, and many other, basic questions. 82.6.50.239 (talk) 13:18, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
This year's Ig Noble Peace Prize to B.F. Skinner for pigeon-guided munitions is duly mentioned in the Project Pigeon article. But not to validate pigeon-guided munitions as contributing to world peace.
It may be that Newman has a valid critique. It would be helpful if there were either peer-reviewed published articles or secondary sources which validate Newman's work. I searched Newman's non-published papers in Google Scholar in part to see if citations to his work might lead to other properly published papers debunking blue zones.
Failing that, it might be possible to cite and describe Newman's critique, but I prefer leave that decision to more experienced editors in this area.
But citing the Ig Noble thingie as validating the correctness of Newman's work is nonsense. And Dr. Oz being recognized for pseudoscience seems utterly irrelevant. -- M.boli (talk) 14:06, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
It's not irrelevant. The Blue Zones owner received three awards for pseudoscience, which are less-well-known than the one awarded here. These awards are cited on wikipedia. Why is the Ig Nobel, rewarding the ridiculing of Blue Zones as a concept and vitally - awarded by a panel dominantly composed of Nobel laureates - not valid?
You haven't answered that basic question. 82.6.50.239 (talk) 18:41, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
To be clear, Dr Oz is the owner of Blue Zones LLC. There is a direct equivalence between these awards being cited on his page and the Ig Nobel being cited here. What is stopping the citation of this criticism? How widely acknowledged does criticism have to be? Are Moungi Bawendi or Esther Duflo not a 'trustworthy' source to you? Seriously? 82.6.50.239 (talk) 18:43, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
The paper by Saul Justin Newman was not properly peer-reviewed . I have read his paper and it is good. According to Newman himself he was turned down by multiple journals so he couldn't publish his paper, he promoted some kind of conspiracy that he was being censored. I find this unlikely. He just seems to be lazy with the peer-review process. He could easily find a valid journal to publish his paper. The fact that he hasn't published his paper properly is not Misplaced Pages's problem, it is his. If he does manage to publish it in a good academic journal then we could cite it. Case closed.
All the content about his award is irrelevant to this article. As for recent sourcing on Newman and Blue zones there is a self-published piece here . Again this is no good for Misplaced Pages. There is some other recent coverage here , , which also isn't great. In a nutshell a wait and see position is best. It all depends if he gets his research to peer review. Psychologist Guy (talk) 20:19, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
Again, you are simply not answering basic questions and diverting onto your own unfounded qualitative judgements, on the basis of what seems to be your own lazy guesswork. The question was: why is a major award for disinformation citable elsewhere on wikipedia, but not here?
You have not answered that question. At all.
It seems this page is just a perching-post for fanboys.
The content of an award for debunking the blue zones is not 'irrelevant to this article'. The article is about blue zones. So please, inform us all,
why do you feel you can ignore the six Nobel laureates on the panel of this award? Do you not see the absurdity? Why is such criticism highly visible on other wiki sites, but not here? 82.6.50.239 (talk) 17:59, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
Your behaviour is problematic and you do not appear to have learned anything since the last time you were reported for disruption. Your paper was not peer-reviewed and you seem to be using Misplaced Pages to promote yourself. Also see WP:NOTNEWS which has already been linked above. This is the Misplaced Pages article for Blue zones not your award. Instead of attacking other users here perhaps you should spend more time trying to get your paper published. Like I said if there are WP:RS that mention your research we can include such information but this currently is not the case. This talk-page is for suggestions to improve the article. You have not listed any reliable sources. Psychologist Guy (talk) 19:17, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
I have posted this at WP:FTN Psychologist Guy (talk) 14:52, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

Fudging?

I recently head that criticism of the concept includes the allegation that longevity claims were, in part, due to people give false ages or stating that relatives who had died were alive in order to get pension checks. Can any-one find a source for this criticism? Kdammers (talk) 17:34, 12 October 2024 (UTC)

Saul Justin Newman. e.g., https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2024/sep/ucl-demographers-work-debunking-blue-zone-regions-exceptional-lifespans-wins-ig-nobel-prize Jaredroach (talk) 13:45, 13 October 2024 (UTC)
Newman failed to get his research published in a peer-reviewed journal then promoted a conspiracy theory that everyone is out to suppress his research. He's been socking on this very talk-page and has threatened users with abuse. Due to all these facts I wouldn't support mentioning him on the article, only if we have very good WP:RS that documents his research. So far the sourcing is not that great. Psychologist Guy (talk) 14:50, 13 October 2024 (UTC)
@Psychologist Guy: only if we have very good WP:RS that documents his research we do, see below. Polygnotus (talk) 21:24, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Original research being added

@Zipster969

  • This paper does not mention blue zones.
  • As above, Saul Justin Newman's research was not peer-reviewed or published in a reliable source. bioRxiv fails WP:RS.
  • This paper does not mention blue zones either

Per WP:OR policy we can only include references that are on topic. Psychologist Guy (talk) 16:35, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

NPOV

This pseudoscientific idea should be described as what it is, a marketing gimmick.

Many more can be found by googling "blue zone pseudoscience".

Mister Newman probably doesn't understand how Misplaced Pages works, but that is no justification to not mention the criticism (or to describe a marketing gimmick as if it is real science). We need MEDRS to make medical claims, but not to say that a claim has been criticized. Polygnotus (talk) 18:07, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

We already have that in the first sentence of the 'Critiques' section: "The concept of blue zone communities having exceptional longevity has been challenged by the absence of evidence-based information." The rest of the section sufficiently supports that position. Zefr (talk) 18:28, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
Hiding criticism in a section at the bottom of the article is not recommended. Aging (journal) is not a great journal. And since they are making medical claims their claims require sources that meet the WP:MEDRS standards, and it doesn't look like they do. This is near the bottom of WP:MEDASSESS; some statistical trickery based on incomplete and unreliable data. Polygnotus (talk) 19:16, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

I moved this bit from the article to the talkpage because it is not supported by MEDRS and "is proposed to be" is a WP:WEASEL word. Worse yet, these are not even reliable sources in this context.

] in blue zones is proposed to be as much as a decade or longer, compared to the average world life expectancy of 73 years in 2019.<ref name="mikhail">{{cite web |author1=Alexa Mikhail |title=A look inside America's only blue zone city—home to some of the world's longest-living people |url=https://fortune.com/well/2023/04/02/longevity-tips-loma-linda-california-blue-zone-city/ |publisher=Fortune |access-date=2 January 2024 |date=2 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="ie">{{cite web |author1=Marcia Wendorf |title=People routinely live over 100 years in global "blue zones". Should you move? |url=https://interestingengineering.com/health/people-routinely-live-beyond-the-age-of-100-in-these-rare-blue-zones |publisher=Interesting Engineering |access-date=4 January 2024 |date=10 February 2022}}</ref>{{medcn|date=January 2024}}

Where did this a decade or longer claim come from? Scientists usually don't make such bold claims.

Since this is an article about a fringe theory which is not the scientific consensus we should present it as such. The criticism should be presented next to the claims, not in a separate section. It would also be unfair if we did it the other way around (starting an article with a bunch of criticism and then at the end an explanation of what it is actually about).

Polygnotus (talk) 19:22, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

There are no MEDRS sources for this article because no such sources have been published, and the topic is WP:FRINGE for medical content in the encyclopedia.
It's not clear a) why you are disputing NPOV, and b) what you propose to change and support with a good source.
Please state your proposal: "change x to y" and provide a source(s). Zefr (talk) 20:15, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
Before I answer your other questions, I am very curious, do you agree with the edit I mentioned above (moving that text from the article to the talkpage)? Polygnotus (talk) 20:46, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
Your dispute isn't clear. The Mikhail article says "up to 10 years longer" and the Wendorf article title says "live over 100 years". According to WHO, the 2019 world life expectancy pre-covid was 73 years. The unfounded blue zone benefit of living a "decade or longer" seems obvious from these sources.
Give us some text and a source to consider. Zefr (talk) 21:03, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
It is not clear to me what is unclear to you. We seem to agree that Blue zones are not a real thing but just a way to make money. I listed quite a few sources that express various levels of skepticism. Currently, a casual reader would probably not even notice that this is an article about a marketing scheme and not about a scientific concept. I believe we should make that clear, and list some of the criticism. I am pretty sure more sources are available if we search for them. Polygnotus (talk) 21:12, 17 November 2024 (UTC)
WP:CHANGEXY: what do you want to say, and what source supports that? The article seems clear to me that it is a marketing term. Zefr (talk) 22:08, 17 November 2024 (UTC)
That page says that edit requests should ideally be in the form change X to Y. But this ain't no edit request. Polygnotus (talk) 08:19, 18 November 2024 (UTC)
Polygnotus the sources you list are nearly all on Saul Justin Newman which runs into the issue of WP:NOTNEWS because many of those sources seem to be focusing on Newman specifically. He's been involved in a publicity stunt to promote his own research. The blue zone concept is much more than just some recent criticisms from Newman. There is another source on Newman here , I am not saying the sources are all unreliable. There is a reply to Newman here which says all his criticisms are invalid. So I would rather wait and create a Misplaced Pages article for Saul Justin Newman (I will create it in a few days). We could mention Newman on this article but we do not want undue weight. Most of the sourcing would be better on his own article. Psychologist Guy (talk) 22:34, 17 November 2024 (UTC)
There is a reply to Newman here which says all his criticisms are invalid yes, that was written by Dan Buettner and hosted on danbuettner.com. Dan Buettner is the dude who made a lot of money from this stuff. Unsurprisingly, when you google the names at the bottom, they all have a lot to gain by promoting this concept. I don't think its undue to mention the fact that something is untrue in a Misplaced Pages article about that thing. We either define it as a scientific concept or as a marketing scheme, and we gonna need those sources when describing it as a marketing scheme based on shoddy science. Usually pseudoscience only gets debunked by a few people and ignored by the rest of mainstream science. Polygnotus (talk) 07:57, 18 November 2024 (UTC)
I generally agree with what you are saying and do not oppose mentioning Newman's research, however, it needs to be done correctly and not read as overly promotional or with undue weight so we have an article that focuses too much on him and his award. What I am objecting to is poor edits like this which is what we have had to put up with on this article. The Critiques section definitely should be expanded with good sources. Psychologist Guy (talk) 16:26, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

Map

The article uses Template:Location map many, so clicking on the thumb to get a larger view only shows a blank map. Does anyone object to width=500 and float=center, to make it easier to distinguish the locations and move it inline rather than as a side thumb? Schazjmd (talk) 18:13, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Is the map needed? It's based on false information perpetuated by marketers. Having it in the article gives credibility to the marketing story and myth that such zones actually exist. The content of the article and critique section are sufficient to describe the topic without a map. Zefr (talk) 18:22, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
Doesn't matter to me if it's removed. If consensus is to keep, though, I'd like it easier to read. Schazjmd (talk) 18:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
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