Costco Connection - April 2007

book excerpt

Living to

a Hundred

USHI OKUSHIMA HAS never missed a day of work at the bustling farmer’s market in Okinawa. She can be counted on to have a bushel of the island’s trademark small green oranges for sale. In addition to being a reliable presence, Okushima is very popular with the tourists, who often snap pictures and shake hands with the friendly fruit seller. Sometimes they ask to touch her snowy white hair. The reason Okushima creates such a stir among the island’s visitors is her age. She is 103 years old. That is certainly remarkable by most standards, but not necessarily for the Okinawans. Residents of the 160 islands that comprise Okinawa are more likely to reach one hundred than people living anywhere else on the planet. Even in Japan, which boasts the longest average life span in the world, Okinawans stand out.

For starters, heart disease, stroke, and cancer occur at a lower frequency on Okinawa than anywhere in the world. Prostate cancer is unusual, and breast cancer is so rare, most women do not even require mammograms. You don’t need advanced medical tests to see that many Okinawans, like Okushima, remain mentally and physically spry— and living independently—long past the age when devastating medical problems frequently trouble their counterparts in the United States and elsewhere around the world. On Okinawa, which lies between the main Japanese islands and Taiwan, there were 699 centenarians out of a population of 1. 3 million in 2005, or 51 for every 100,000 people. Compare that to the United States, where there are only about 10 centenarians per 100,000 people.

It should come as no surprise that Okinawa has been a hotbed of aging research for decades. Scientists have drawn Okinawans’ blood, taken their heart rates and blood pressure, scrutinized their diets and social interactions, interviewed them at length about their lives and their philosophy on life—all in an effort to learn what makes the islanders maintain such good health for so long. The question, of course, is whether they are genetically predestined to live longer, or whether there is something about the way they live that could benefit the rest of us. Simply put, can we live longer by becoming more like the Okinawans?

To answer the first question: Do Okinawans possess a “longevity gene?”

The answer appears to be no. We know this for a simple reason. Okinawans who move away and adopt the lifestyle of their new country quickly develop life spans in line with their neighbors. That suggests their longevity results from the way Okinawans live and not to some genetic protection against the ravages of age. That means we should be able to learn a thing or two from them. So how do they live?

Well, this came as a surprise to me, but Okinawans do not enjoy an easy life. In fact, the word retirement does not even exist in the traditional Okinawan dialect. They work hard from an early age and don’t stop working. C

giveaways

COSTCO HAS FIVE signed copies of Sanjay Gupta’s Chasing Life to give away. To enter, print your name, membership number, address and daytime phone number on a postcard or letter and send it to: Sanjay Gupta, The Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088, or fax it to (425) 313-6718.

No purchase is necessary. Only current Costco members are eligible to win. One entry per household. Entries must be received or postmarked by May 1, 2007. Winners will be randomly

selected and notified by mail on or before June 1, 2007. The value of the prize is $24.99. Void where prohibited. Winners are responsible for all applicable federal, state and local taxes. The decision of the judges is final. Employees of Costco or Hachette Book Group and their families are not eligible.