Thursday, September 11, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

The blue zones: Where people live the longest in the world

The blue zones refer to five different areas in the world where the population lives and stays healthy longer than anywhere else in the world. For example, there are more 100-year-olds, and fewer middle-aged people are becoming ill. What then, do the people in the blue zones do differently than the rest of us?

Published 1 January 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Sardinia has the most centenarians per capita in the world. The island is one of several counted as "blue zones".
4 minute read

The blue zones as a concept were coined by Dan Buettner, who calls himself a “discoverer”. Buettner made himself known earlier by cycling around the world, setting a number of records in the Guinness Book of Records. He has written several books about the blue zones and in 2004 put together a team along with National Geographic to investigate what the secret is behind the people in the blue zones living and being healthy for so long. Five areas in the world are usually referred to as blue zones:

Seventh-day Adventists

Seventh-day Adventists is a church that has made itself known for emphasizing the importance of a healthy life. In Sweden, the church previously owned the brand Hälsans kök (The Cuisine of Health), under which they marketed various vegetarian products. The Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, are a group that has been studied for a long time, not just by Buettner’s group. A large proportion of them are vegetarians and vegans and physical activity is an important part of their daily lives.

Ikaria, Greece

Ikaria is an island in Greece and is characterized by the very low incidence of dementia and the very low mortality rate in middle-aged people. At Ikaria, life flows at a leisurely pace and many make their own wine according to old traditions.

Sardinia

In Sardinia, more specifically in the region known as Barbagia, lives the population group that has the most male centenarians in relation to the population in the world. The people traditionally live as farmers or shepherds. The research suggests that they may be descendants of an earlier Bronze Age civilization that was displaced by an invading population and thus driven up to the highlands of Sardinia.

Nicoya, Costa Rica

Nicoya is a peninsula in Costa Rica that comes in second place when it comes to male centenarians, after Barbagia in Sardinia. They also have the lowest mortality rate in the world among middle-aged people. In Nicoya, not only do people grow old, but just like in the other blue zones, they are active and healthy until they pass away.

Okinawa

Okinawa is an island south of Japan where the population has traditionally lived largely on sweet potatoes and fish. Okinawa has the largest proportion of female centenarians in the world.

Based on Buettner’s research, below are some tips for you who in our society want to follow some of the habits in the blue zones.

Everyday exercise

In the blue zones, moving around is part of everyday life. Most people live traditional lives where they work in the field, in the garden, fish or look after the animals. This means that they never have to think about training or exercise as a separate activity. This can be difficult for you who have a job where you mostly sit at a desk all day. A solution can be a lunch walk, a desk where you stand or maybe even a small exercise bike you put under the desk and pedal a little to and fro during the day.

Purpose of life

In the blue zones, everyone states that they know the purpose of their lives, something that few could probably do in the western world. Feeling that life is meaningful is a prerequisite for mental health and it also is evident in how long people live and how happy they are. This is also related to the next item.

Relaxation and de-stressing

Stress is a part of life, even for the people in the blue zones. The difference is how they handle it. Meditation, prayer and reflection are some examples of what they all do, but which very few of us do. In addition to this, the stress level for us is often significantly higher. People who profess to be genuinely religious, no matter what religion they are, live longer and consider themselves happier than others. Studies have shown that those in the West who participate in a religious gathering four times a month live on average four to fourteen years longer than others.

They do not eat until stuffed

Several of the blue zones have traditions that prevent overeating, such as “hara hachi bu” in Okinawa, which means that you should stop eating when you are 80 percent full. Maybe we can also assume that you are not offered cake every week at work in the blue zones? Not eating too much can be easier said than done, but if you try, it probably has some kind of effect.

Mostly plants in the diet

The diet in the blue zones is largely plant-based, supplemented with cheese, fish or meat. Beans are also something that reappears in all the blue zones in different forms and is usually eaten daily. This means that the energy in the diet comes mostly from carbohydrates, 65 percent approximately. It can be said that the diet in the blue zones is starch-based, mostly from root vegetables, whole grains and beans. This is easy to follow in our society, where food from all corners of the world is available all year round.

Alcohol

Alcohol is consumed in all the blue zones except among the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda. However, people are very rarely drunk and the alcohol is always consumed with food or in social contexts.

Social context

Family, friends and society are factors that play a major role in health. In the blue zones, everyone has somewhere where they belong. They have strong social networks and always put the needs of their families first. This is a very stark contrast to Western society, where the self-realisation of the autonomous individual is often portrayed as central.

The term “blue zone” has gained great popularity and today Buettner works with an entire organisation behind him to try to improve the health of the American population with the blue zones as a model. Perhaps the Swedish population can also be inspired by the lifestyle in the blue zones to live healthier and happier lives in modern society.

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British cardiologist links royal family cancer cases to covid vaccine

The criticized covid vaccinations

Published 8 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
According to Aseem Malhotra, it is "highly likely that the COVID vaccines have been a significant factor in the cancer cases among members of the royal family".
3 minute read

The vaccine-skeptical cardiologist Aseem Malhotra caused major controversy when he assessed during Reform UK’s conference that experimental covid vaccines were “highly likely” to have been a significant factor behind cancer diagnoses among members of the British royal family.

During his speech at the party conference in Birmingham on Saturday, Dr. Aseem Malhotra delivered extensive criticism of mRNA vaccines. The British cardiologist, who is a close friend and advisor to the US vaccine-skeptical health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., spoke to delegates on the conference’s final day.

Malhotra argued that hundreds of studies have shown harm from mRNA vaccines and that these affect people’s genes in a damaging way.

— It may be a risk factor for cancer. Many other doctors feel the same way, he said from the stage at the conference venue, linking the same vaccines to illness cases within the royal family.

— It’s highly likely that the Covid vaccines have been a factor, a significant factor, in the cancer of members of the royal family, he continued.

“No one should have been injected”

During the 15-minute speech, the doctor also argued that the covid vaccine was significantly more likely to cause serious harm than the virus itself.

— What does that mean? It is highly likely that not a single person should have been injected with this.

Malhotra also directed criticism at the World Health Organization WHO, which he claimed had been “captured” by Microsoft founder and vaccine lobbyist Bill Gates. He called for the organization to be replaced by a better and more functional system.

— Nobody is immune to medical misinformation, he proclaimed during the speech.

“Dangerous extremism”

Several British cancer organizations have distanced themselves from Malhotra’s comments, including Cancer Research UK and Blood Cancer UK, which state that there are no controlled studies showing increased cancer risk after covid-19 vaccination.

Britain’s health secretary Wes Streeting has also reacted very strongly to the statements and demands that Reform’s party leader Nigel Farage distance himself from the speaker.

— When we are seeing falling numbers of parents getting their children vaccinated, and a resurgence of disease we had previously eradicated, it is shockingly irresponsible for Nigel Farage to give a platform to these poisonous lies, Streeting thundered.

The minister urges Farage to apologize and “sever all ties with this dangerous extremism”.

A spokesperson for Reform UK notes, however, that Malhotra was invited as a guest speaker and has the right to his own opinions – even if the party does not share them.

— Dr Aseem Malhotra is a guest speaker with his own opinions who has an advisory role in the US government. Reform UK does not endorse what he said but does believe in free speech, the spokesperson explains.

Cancer rates rising rapidly among young adults in Australia

Published 8 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
More young people in the Western world are being affected by cancer, and researchers don't know what is causing the rapid increase.
2 minute read

Prostate cancer has increased by 500 percent among young Australian men. This is just the worst example of a very concerning trend – cancer cases among 30-39 year-olds have risen sharply over the past two decades.

Between 2000 and 2024, about ten different types of cancer have increased among the younger adult population. The technical term for this phenomenon is early-onset cancer, and according to data from Cancer Australia, the federal government’s cancer agency, the figures are alarmingly high.

Among other increases, kidney cancer has risen by 85 percent, uterine cancer by 138 percent, liver cancer by 150 percent, pancreatic cancer by 200 percent, and prostate cancer has increased by 500 percent in this age group. Colorectal cancer has also increased by 173 percent, a type of cancer that is often detected late, making it harder to treat.

Cancer has traditionally been a disease of aging, and bowel cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, they all increase with age, says Dorothy Keefe, chief executive of Cancer Australia, to ABC and continues:

But over the last 20 years, there’s been a real – it’s small in absolute numbers – but it is a real increase in the number of younger adults developing these cancers.

The increase is also occurring in the United States, where more and more young adults are being diagnosed with cancer.

Environmental toxins and childhood obesity

The increase puzzles researchers who cannot explain what causes it. While there are hereditary mutations that cause cancer, the younger patients do not carry these genetic changes. Researchers speculate that the increase may partly be due to environmental toxins in our surroundings.

We are exposed to a broad universe of synthetic chemicals … that our biology isn’t familiar with, and that has left a great deal of uncertainty, says Dr Christos Symeonides, who is an Australian pediatrician and also studies exposure to chemicals and microplastics.

The increase in childhood obesity is also seen as a possible explanation, as well as gut health. The proportion of cesarean sections has increased, for example, and this means that children do not receive the same microbiome as those born vaginally. This could potentially affect the development of their immune system, researchers believe.

We have lots of bacteria in our gut … and it’s that balance between good and bad bacteria that creates a healthy state, says Professor Gianluca Severi, senior cancer epidemiologist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris, France.

Memory problems increase among Nordic children

Published 27 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Memory-related medical visits have tripled in a short time among children aged 5-14 in Sweden.
2 minute read

More children and young people are seeking medical care for memory problems in both Sweden and Norway. The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation believes the increase may be linked to radiation exposure, which has also increased during the same period.

In Norway, there has been an increase in recent years in the number of people seeking medical care for memory problems, not only among adults but also among children. Between 2019 and 2024, for example, the number of doctor visits related to memory problems more than doubled, from 41,722 doctor visits to 98,910 doctor visits in 2024. Among children aged 5-14, visits had nearly tripled.

I have never seen such a dramatic increase in these figures before, says Richard Aubrey White, researcher and statistician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI), to Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

In Sweden too, the number of doctor visits regarding memory problems has increased, both among children and adults. Memory problems, which can be classified as mild cognitive impairment, is a diagnosis found under diagnostic code R41. In 2011, 577 children were registered with diagnosis R41 as the primary diagnosis; by 2024, the number had increased to 5,975.

Microwave radiation

The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation believes the increase may be due to increased exposure to microwave radiation among people, pointing out that repeated research has shown, for example, that radiation has a harmful effect on memory.

Repeated scientific studies have also shown that people exposed to elevated levels of this radiation have an increased occurrence of various symptoms, called microwave syndrome, where impaired memory is one of the most common symptoms“, writes the Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation.

Cell towers associated with worse memory

Even in case studies examining the health effects of 5G, impaired memory tends to be one of the most commonly reported effects. Reports of impaired memory, concentration difficulties, and headaches are also common when living near cell towers.

The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation notes that radiation has increased dramatically during the same period as the increase in doctor visits for memory problems has occurred. At the same time, mobile phones have begun to be used more extensively by both children and adults during the same period.

The increased memory problems, both among children and adults, are thus an expected effect resulting from the increase in people’s exposure to microwave radiation”.

Colorectal cancer affects more young Swedes

Published 23 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The study also shows that mortality has increased among both younger and older patients for up to ten years after cancer diagnosis.
2 minute read

Colorectal cancer is increasing among young people in Sweden, according to research from the Karolinska Institute. Researchers suggest that lifestyle factors, such as sedentary behavior and obesity, may be the cause.

In the study, which was published in Annals of Oncology, researchers examined over 135,000 Swedish patients who had colorectal cancer between 1993 and 2019.

The results show that the number of younger people under 50 who develop this form of cancer has increased over the past three decades. For rectal cancer, the number of new cases among younger people has increased by 2.04 percent per year, and for left-sided and right-sided colon cancer, the increase is 2.41 and 2.64 percent per year respectively. Overall, the disease has become two to three times more common among younger people.

Detected later in younger patients

Younger patients also more often had metastatic cancer compared to older patients, suggesting they had lived with symptoms longer before the cancer was discovered. Researchers emphasize that it’s important for both the public and healthcare professionals to know that this type of cancer can also affect younger people. This is particularly important since the chance of curing cancer increases with early detection.

The study also shows that mortality has increased among both younger and older patients up to ten years after cancer diagnosis.

This is remarkable, since patients are often considered cured after such a long time. Our results challenge that view and underscore the need for more research into why this is happening, as well as long-term follow-up and support for both young and older patients, says Cecilia Radkiewicz, researcher at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Lifestyle may be the cause

It’s unclear what actually lies behind the increase in colorectal cancer among young people, but researchers believe it doesn’t appear to be driven by traditional risk factors such as inflammatory bowel disease or heredity. Instead, the results suggest that lifestyle factors may be decisive.

Childhood obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and antibiotic use have been highlighted as contributing factors, although the underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear, says Radkiewicz.

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