The longevity lifestyles of American, Sardinian and Japanese centenarians are examined in the documentary "Living to 101" by BBC Horizon.

This documentary mostly covers the healthy lifestyle factors of Japanese centenarians, specifically Okinawan longevity. It's fairly well done for the most part. They also look at the blue zones of Sardinia Italy and the city of Loma Linda California. Interviews with the various researchers who are studying these regions are also conducted.

Many Japanese elders were filmed who are part of the Okinawa Centenarian Study. It makes for a fascinating look at how these people live day to day. However, I found certain biases in what the filmmakers chose to focus on, especially with the Sardinians. I would like to emphasize that a more accurate representation of this culture was given in the book "Blue Zones" by Dan Buettner. He looks at all of their healthy lifestyle factors, not just diet and genetics.

The BBC seems to give the impression that the Sardinians eat a lot of meat since they happened to be filming them during a large family party or festival... They also seem to over-emphasize their gene pool as being the cause for their long lives. In reality, Dan's research found that they really only eat meat once or twice a week (such as during big social occasions) and engage in other factors of longevity unique to their culture that shows that lifestyle really is the key to longevity in humans.

Part 1 of 5:

Part 2 of 5:

Part 3 of 5:

Part 4 of 5:

Part 5 of 5:

Click to return from "Japanese Centenarians" to the "Health Education Videos" page.