Longevity is a dream and people living in five locations in the
world are living it!
At the "2006 China Food and Nutrition High-level Forum" held in
Beijing last week, the professionals from the State Food and
Nutrition Consultant Committee of China released the names of the
world’s five "longevity villages" where there are over 75
centenarians among every one million people. This is a standard set
by the United Nations.
The five villages are: Hunza of Pakistan, Vilcabamba of Ecuador,
Georgia of Transcaucasia, Bama of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Hetian of
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region both of
China. The five have been officially recognized by the
International Natural Medicine Society.
Hunza Valley is located in northeast Pakistan about thirty
kilometers away from the border of Xinjiang. It's reputed to be the
inspiration of the original Shangri-La. With vegetables forming the
main part of their diet the local people of Hunza don’t succumb to
illness very often. It's been documented that the rates of cancer,
heart disease and other degenerative illnesses are remarkably low
in Hunza Valley. Many residents are still 'in the pink' when they
celebrate their 100th birthdays. Many still work in the fields even
in their 80s and 90s.
Known worldwide as the "valley of longevity" in the western
hemisphere Vilcabamba is located in the southern mountainous area
of Ecuador. The local people there often live to 100 or even
longer. They mainly eat vegetarian dishes and seldom meat or
high-calorie food.
The total population of Georgia in Transcaucasia is only about
9.5 million and it can proudly boast the highest number of elderly
people anywhere in the world. In fact in the local Caucasian
dialects there's no word for "elderly" or "aged" but just the
unusual expression "long-centuried." Many people in the Georgia
area live to 130 or even 140 years of age. The staple food of the
local people is corn bread and porridge. They don’t eat sausage,
bacon or ham and their drinking water contains some alkaline
elements.
Bama, a Yao ethnic autonomous county, is located on the slopes
of the Guangxi Basin and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in southwest China.
As the home of many centenarians Bama is the only one among the
five "longevity villages" that the number of elderly people
continues to rise.
With a population of 238,000 the county has 74 residents who are
over 100 years old and 531 in their 90s. This is one of the highest
per-capita concentrations of ‘old-timers’ in the world. In Bama the
daily diet for locals is mainly low-calorie, low-fat, low-salt,
high-vitamin and high-fibrin. The residents often have one meal of
rice and two meals of porridge everyday which is almost a
completely natural diet.
Over the years the Hetian area in Xingjiang Uygur Region has
become world famous for its older inhabitants and their special
genes especially the Layisu Village. There are 2,400 residents in
the village of whom 16 have reached the age of 90. Corn, steamed
buns and vegetables form the main part of their diets. It accounts
for 77.3 percent of their daily food intake.
According to experts, longevity is closely related to the diet.
Five points should be considered: Firstly, to eat vegetables as the
main diet; secondly, to balance the proportion of vegetarian food
and meat; thirdly, to keep the content of calorie and protein in
food at a reasonable level; fourthly, to ensure the intake of fat
and salt are low with the fat structure well-balanced; and fifth,
to ensure the intake of enough minerals and to balance the
proportion of acid and alkaline food.
Hunza of
Pakistan
Vilcabamba of
Ecuador
Georgia of
Transcaucasia
Bama of
Guangxi
Hetian of
Xinjiang
(China.org.cn by Xu Lin November 13, 2006)
