Passage Five 

An interesting project called Blue Zones is recording the lifestyle secrets of the communities with the highest, hest concentrations of centenarians in the worli.

The people in the five regions in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the US that 1ive to be 100 have a lot going for them. Genes probably play a small role，but these folks also have strong social ties , tightly -knit families and lots of oppor tunities to exercise.

As we were examining the dietary secrets of the Blue Zones, as described in author Dan Buettner" s latest book, The Blue Zones Solution, we were struck by how essential tea drinking is in these regions. In fact, Buettner’ s Blue Zones Beverage Rule- -a kind of guideline summarized from his 15 or so years of studying these places-- -is:" Drink coffee for breakfast, tea in the afternoon, wine at 5 p. tm^Science has plenty to say about the healthful virtues of green tea. Researchers are most enthusi- astic almt the components in green tea, as well as foods like c0coa. Why might they help so many 0kina vans in Japan break 1007 Some components in green tea can lower the risk of stroke, heart disease attd several cancers. 0ne review study also found that drinking green tea can slightly improve metabolism(新陈代谢).

If you find yourself on the island of Ikaria, the Greek Blue Zone in the middle of the Aegean, you won' t be offered any tea made with tea leaves. Instead, Ikarians typically make their daily cup of tea writh just one fresh herb that they havepicked themselves that day -- ei ther rosemary, wild sage, oregano, nmxjotmn, mint or dandelion, all p1ants that may have anti-inflanmatory (消炎的) properties,which may help lower blood pressure. This could exp1ain Ikaria’s very low dementia (痴呆) rate, since high blood pressure is a risk factor for the disease.