Author casts 'Blue Zones' vision to business leaders

New York Times best-selling author Dan Buettner introduced his global longevity research to roughly 250 business leaders June 11 at Bass Pro Shops’ White River Conference Center.

Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, CoxHealth and Mercy partnered to bring “The Blue Zones” author to town for the breakfast, as well as afternoon community events at Drury University’s O’Reilly Family Event Center.

Buettner’s message to a wide swath of business and municipal executives might have been surprising to the room full of Midwestern thinkers: “Do not beat the dead horse of individual responsibility,” he told the crowd, calling personal diet, exercise and supplement programs short-term investments for long-term failures.

Lasting health improvements, he said, stem from changes to living and working environments that often begin on the ordinance level.

“We’ve engineered physical activity out of our lives,” Buettner said.

Built on his research for a National Geographic story about the places on earth people live longest, Buettner has identified such common traits as a sense of purpose; natural activities including growing gardens and frequent walks rather than concentrated exercise; little consumption of red meat; and faith and family traditions.

The so-called blue zones, where life expectancies far surpass averages and residents commonly cross the 100-year mark, are Sardinia, Italy, which boasts the world’s largest concentration of centenarians; Ikaria, Greece, which has the world’s lowest dementia rates; Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica, which has the world’s lowest middle-age mortality rate; Loma Linda, Calif., where a high concentration of Seventh-day Adventists outlive their North American peers by 10 years; and Okinawa, Japan, where females live 86 years on average, one of the world’s highest life expectancies.

Before Buettner’s presentation, Yellow Iron Auctions Inc. owner Les Mace said he was curious about the “Blue Zones” buzz.

“I’m here to see what it’s all about. When you’re my age, you want to live as long as you can,” Mace said, noting he is “39 and counting for 39 years.”

Given his mostly part-time and middle-income staff, Mace planned to take the talking points back to the office because he’s aware covering health care costs are a challenge for his five to 15 seasonal employees.

‘No profit in broccoli’
Pointing to the statistic that 40 percent of fifth-grade students in Springfield Public Schools are considered obese, Buettner warned that Americans spend $2.2 trillion treating chronic diseases, and for the first time, the next generation’s life expectancy is five years less than their parent’s rates.

“I don’t need to tell this audience there is a health care issue in our country,” said Buettner, who will present to 100 cities this year promoting his Blue Zones Project administered through Nashville, Tenn.-based Healthways. “There is no profit in broccoli. The profit is in the packaged food. That’s very hard to accept.”

Describing the Blue Zones Project as a silver buckshot rather than a silver bullet, Buettner offered the business crowd “revenue neutral” ideas such as restaurants serving smaller portions on smaller plates, communities adding shared gardens, schools changing policies about eating in hallways and cities spending taxpayer dollars on walking paths rather than expanding roadways.

“The biggest opportunity is the menu,” he said, noting Americans dine out 110 times a year on average and make 250 food decisions a day.

He said restaurateurs have the ability to subconsciously improve those decisions by changing the language describing healthy menu items, emphasizing doggie bag options and not charging for split plates. “Half the time, you don’t want that compost pile in front of you, anyway,” Buettner said.

In his research, Buettner found two blue zones don’t even have a word for the Western concept of retirement. “Here, the idea of retirement doesn’t really exist,” he said of the islands of Sardinia and Okinawa, where elders are celebrated and expected to continue their contributions in society.

Japan currently claims the world’s two longest-living people. Jiroemon Kimura died last week at the age of 116 – a feat verified by Guinness World Records – and there is a 115-year-old woman also living in central Japan, according to the International Business Times. Kimura reportedly was a retired postal employee but remained active into his early 90s, and he later helped his son tend a farm.

John Twitty, who retired as Springfield City Utilities general manager in 2011 but quickly took the director position of Transmission Access Policy Study Group, said Buettner’s criticism of retirement rang true. Twitty has combated the late-age loafing effect by joining the boards of Jordan Valley Community Health Center and Drury University. Last year, he was named board chairman for Mercy Springfield Communities.

“Beyond your own health, you ought to say, ‘Are there things I can do to make the community better?’ You can do a lot of things you didn’t have time to do before,” Twitty said.

Next steps
Following Buettner’s presentation, Ollis & Co. President and CEO Richard Ollis said he sent a text message to Springfield City Manager Greg Burris to encourage the city’s participation and to ask what his insurance company could do to help.

“I knew the environment was important, but this shows how important,” said Ollis, who has done his part in changing the corporate environment by adding a wellness division in his company and emphasizing wellness in insurance programs.

Buettner said the next step for city officials would be to determine they are serious about enacting changes, sign a pledge that municipal and business leaders are committed to working together, and establish funding.

He said in Iowa, for example, a statewide blue zone initiative has come with an estimated $30 million price tag, underwritten by Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield. An individual city might prepare to spend a few million dollars upfront with expected savings to follow, he said. For instance, in Albert Lea, Minn. – the first U.S. city designated as a blue zone – city employees reported a reduction in health care costs by 40 percent in the first year.

In an interview with Springfield Business Journal before his presentation, Buettner said it is unusual that health systems are leading the interest around the Blue Zones Project. Municipalities usually are first to play a role, he said.

“The systems here are enlightened. It says to me they really care about people’s health,” he said.

Health care officials consider the day’s events – a community health fair and book signing, followed by a public address by Buettner – a springboard to making Springfield a healthier community.

“This is a way to kick off a conversation and that conversation includes the community,” said Mercy Hospital Springfield President Dr. Rob Steele.