A reporter who visited a stunning Greek island where locals live longer than anywhere else in the world was floored after speaking to medical experts and energetic 100-year-olds. 

The small island of Ikaria, home to 8,000 people, is based in the northeastern Aegean Sea. Last year, Lonely Planet named it as one of the best Greek islands to explore. 

It is famously one of the five ‘Blue Zones’ in the world where people often live past 90 while also having lower rates of cancer and heart disease. The ‘Blue Zone’ website also claims it is “almost entirely free of dementia”. 

There have been many theories about why this is, from diet, culture to the topography of the island, but 60 Minutes Australia sent Tara Brown to the picturesque holiday destination to find out more.

Locals 

As well as getting an expert view, Tara also spent time with various elderly locals, and she was blown away by their sharp wit and agileness. 

This included Gregoria Tas, 100 at the time of the interview, who met Tara for his daily coffee in the town square. During the chat he happily scoffed ice cream and lit up a cigarette. 

He joked that the “red wine makes you stronger” in Ikaria and through a translator he added: “He says that you should come and stay in that village and you will reach that years of age!”

Another woman with all her faculties intact was 99-year-old Evangela Canava who said she did not take life too seriously and she was “addicted” to Pepsi.

One spritely local, Christoulus Porus, 95, offered an alternative perspective regarding good health.  

The elderly man said he ate a lot of beans, vegetables, milk and eggs and he recommended people to sleep in a hard bed. His point was some hardship in life is good, and too much comfort can be dangerous. 

Experts 

This point about comfortability was backed up by Dan Beuttner who is the expert and author who first identified the different ‘Blue Zones’. 

He said the ‘Blue Zones’ were all remote where locals depended on each other and they were ultimately untouched by western civilisation. 

And on the topic of things being too comfortable, he added: “Our incessant reaching for more comfort may not really be the best route for longevity or indeed even happiness. A little bit of hardship I think tempers human life.”

He also said that the 90 to 100-year-olds in Ikaria never tried to reach a certain age, and that instead, longevity happened to them. 

He added: “Most astoundingly, we found almost no signs of dementia. So not only are these people living a long healthy life, they are reaching the end and they are very sharp. And that at the end of the day is what you want.”  

Tara also spent time with Dr Christina Chrysohoou, a cardiologist who was conducting a study where she tracked the health of older residents on the island. 

She was finding that some patients, who were 100, had hearts in better shape than medical science can explain. Studying one man, she said his vascular age was 20 years younger than his actual age. 

And asked if there could be a genetic component to all this, she replied that “something special” was happening. 

Ultimate secret 

While there are several factors that give Ikaria its reputation, including Mediterranean diets, the hot springs and the mountainous landscape where trekking is a must, Tara concluded that one secret trumped all. 

During a fiesta, she noticed that there were no lines of separation between the generations. She noted that there was no table for youngsters or older people and that everyone mixed together and therefore nobody felt alone. 

And Dr Chrysohoou felt this was crucial and something that may have eluded scientific tests. She explained: “They are useful in their community until the very end.”

Tara added that no one was left out before the cardiologist continued: “This is the secret. Not only living up to advanced age, but also having a good quality of life which means good mental stress without depression. 

“And in order to have that you must have a purpose in your life until the very end.”

And offering some final words, Tara simply said: “If all it takes is good food, wine and good company, what’s not to love?”