A provocation, but not so much. In fact, the idea is to “bourgeois” cities, that is, to make urban centers more similar to less chaotic, stressful realities, with fewer cars and inhabitants, where one still moves on foot. And it is no coincidence that the theory of size reduction, with all that follows, is reaffirmed in three days of meetings on “Lifestyles, nutrition and longevity”, right in Castelbuono, a small town in the province of Palermo: little more of eight thousand inhabitants on the Madonie, those Madonie studied by the University of Palermo with a specific project for the high number of healthy centenarians.
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Silvio Buscemi he is full professor of Clinical Nutrition in the Promise department of the University of Palermo, which conducted the study on the centenarians of these areas.
Professor, do you want to make cities disappear?
“In reality we would like to highlight the need to preserve models and conditions, including social ones, which we are rediscovering having a favorable impact on our health, also understood as a perceived quality of life. We need to find solutions to extreme urbanization, spaces to live together, efficient transport and green, circular economy, social support, flexible work, interactions with suburbs, countryside and villages, food from local productions, just to name a few aspects.
Is living in the villages good for health?
“There is no doubt. Moreover, the enormous spread of diabetes, obesity, tumors, cardiovascular diseases, is largely attributable to an unfavorable environmental impact, which is typical of large urban centers, and which has led to a progressive abandonment of the Mediterranean diet and a serious sedentary lifestyle. The diseases we deal with derive from the interaction between our genetic heritage and the environment “.
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What are the main results of the study on the centenarians of the Madonie and why is this Sicilian territory so peculiar?
“The Madonie are an interesting territory, open, from the sea to the mountains, rich in art and culture. A territory preserved from pollution and building devastation, where the inhabitants mainly consume local products and breathe fresh air, and try to keep themselves physically active. a territory well reached by the national health system and where a social structure based on the family that takes care of its elderly resists, making use of their experience and wisdom. This environment, and not just a genetic privilege, favors longevity “.
A territory with many centenarians, a bit like in some areas of Sardinia …
“Yes, a particularly high prevalence. And they are centenarians for the most part with good cognitive abilities, good nutritional status and endothelial and cardiovascular function. Centenarians who maintain healthy habits linked to the Mediterranean diet, physically active. Personally I am not interested in anecdotal aspects, like the 5 blue zones in the world where one would live better and longer: I prefer to study those that represent a model with exportable or replicable or surrogate aspects. Areas to be guarded. These centenarians have had difficult lives, some were pacemakers or coronary stents, or with diabetes, or they had overcome serious oncological pathologies. Here, we are interested in this global model not in phenomena to be written in the book of curiosities “.
How can you try to make urban centers more similar to villages, bringing lifestyles closer together?
“The challenge is to protect the villages, to avoid their” urbanization “, to set up polluting factories or industries. And to prevent them from being emptied of their young people. It will also be important to rethink life in the villages and a fundamental point is to maintain a continuous bond, osmotic, between villages and cities, one resource for the other and vice versa “.
What are the major problems you see in urban centers?
“Pollution, social isolation, unhealthy diet with consumption of ultra-processed foods, sedentary lifestyle, work rhythms in contrast with the possibility of looking after the family and the growth of children and young people, lack of safety, often lack of ecological sustainability. Perhaps the most problematic serious is that of having left communication aimed at young people to the world of adults who govern and guide consumption. Good politics and good administration have a lot of work to do, even before doctors “.
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