The key to the ‘blue zones’: sharing microbiota promotes longevity

There are five blue zones in the world: Okinawa (Japan), Nuoro and Ogliastra (Sardinia, Italy), Icaria (Greece), the Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica) and Loma Linda (California, USA) – and it is believed that people live longer in these five places.

For several decades now, their lifestyle, diet and calorie expenditure have been studied to determine what makes them live longer and live to the end with hardly any illnesses.

“Family, deep social relationships, the absence of smoking, plant-based diets, the constant practice of moderate physical activity and the consumption of legumes” are common characteristics shared by all individuals living in the blue zones“, says Dr. Vicente Mera, head of the Well-ageing unit at SHA Wellness Clinic.

A common thread that has been found in all these communities is a high degree of social interaction that keeps their members active and with good self-esteem. But not only do they benefit from it for these reasons, it has recently been discovered that intense social life involves sharing some bacteria which enrich their microbiota and, apparently, promote longevity.

“In Loma Linda (California) the communities are Seventh-day Adventist, they pray as a community, and praying has neurological benefits equivalent to meditating, the brain goes blank and rests. This communal living involves sharing viruses and bacteria from the microbiota, specifically the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila, which has been linked to longevity in several research studies,” explains Dr Mera.

This intestinal bacterium seems to be the secret to the longevity of centenarians. The journal Nature Medicine published a study in which this bacterium was able to extend the lifespan of laboratory mice.

Research reveals that the gut microbiota – the ecosystem of micro-organisms living in the intestines – has an important impact on ageing. Previous studies have linked the microbiota to age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, some cancers and some cardiovascular diseases. But this is the first time that the microbiota has been directly linked to the ageing process.

Studies also reveal that the effect of the microbiota on ageing is caused through the influence of the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila on bile, which appears to have a beneficial effect for maintaining good health in the older ages of life. Dr. Mera believes that communal living would help to share this longevity-promoting bacteria.

It has been studied that centenarians have a higher amount of a type of bacteria called verrucomicrobes, and precisely Akkermansia muciniphila falls into this phylum or group which, in some studies, has been shown to have a protective effect against diabetes and obesity.

“Today we know that in the microbiome there are very good bacteria and others that are not so good or even dangerous. This is something that was hard to understand not many years ago. Our work identifies Akkermansia muciniphila as one of the very good ones,” the lead author of the research explains.

Sharing the “good” bacteria of the microbiota slows down ageing processes, such as weight loss, kidney deterioration or poor regulation of body temperature.

Another study published in the journal Nature proves that centenarians have an enriched gut microbiota which inhibits the growth of pathogens, another circumstance that appears to promote longevity.

The study defines the enrichment of the microbiota as a special set of intestinal microbes capable of generating unique bile acids in people over 100 years of age. The work, which compares the gut microbes of centenarians, of elderly and young people in Japan, suggests the possibility that manipulating the bile acid reserve may be beneficial, not only for health, but also for longevity.

It is known that the community of gut bacteria plays a crucial role in our health and that it changes as we age. Contrary to all expectations, centenarians are less susceptible to age-related chronic diseases and infections than the elderly who have not reached 100 years of age yet.