At present, it is recognized that there are four famous longevity areas in the world, namely the Caucasus of the Soviet Union, Hongza of Pakistan, wilkabamba village of Ecuador and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The Caucasus region of the Soviet Union has the largest number of centenarians, with a total of 5000. China's Xinjiang autonomous region has 85 centenarians. In addition, Bama village in China is also a famous longevity village.
A large number of studies have found that the main factors affecting people's life span are genetic factors, social factors, psychological factors, economic conditions, living standards, diet and nutrition, sanitary conditions, diseases, natural environment, geochemical factors and so on. Among them, environmental factors are the main factors.
According to the research, most longevity areas are between 500 ~ 1500 meters above sea level, with an annual average temperature of 17 ~ 20 ° C, an annual average rainfall of 1250 ~ 1500 mm and an annual average sunshine time of 1400 ~ 1800 hours. These factors constitute the specific conditions of green mountains and green water, pleasant climate, fresh air and rich specialties. In addition, there is another important feature of longevity area, that is, the prevalence of coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cancer, diabetes and other serious threats to people, especially middle-aged and elderly people, is significantly lower than that in general areas.
The survey found that areas with different geological structures and geochemical compositions have different effects on people's health. Especially the content of trace elements in the surrounding environment has a more obvious impact on human health. Iodine deficiency in the environment can cause big neck disease, and selenium deficiency is an important cause of Keshan disease. The study also found that people's insufficient intake of cobalt, selenium, zinc, chromium and other elements, or excessive intake of cadmium and other elements, will lead to a high incidence of diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease and stroke. Many studies have proved that the imbalance of trace elements in the environment is closely related to the occurrence of malignant tumors. In particular, the study found that soybeans in Changshou area are rich in many elements.
Many reports point out that there is a certain relationship between heredity and life expectancy. The family longevity rate of the long-lived elderly is 60.0 ~ 84.6%. Most of the chromosomes of the long-lived elderly are not lost, and the chromosome aberration rate is also low. More than 90% of the long-lived elderly are manual workers, and their diet is mainly vegetarian.