Blue Zones and American College of Lifestyle Medicine launch new Blue Zones® Certification for Physicians and Health Professionals

Clinicians who earn the certification will stand out in their communities for having the skills and knowledge to apply evidence-based lifestyle interventions and Blue Zones’ roadmap to living better, longer lives

American College of Lifestyle Medicine

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Blue Zones and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) today launched the “Blue Zones Certification Course for Physicians and Health Professionals.” The new certification recognizes clinicians with the knowledge and tools to promote longevity, well-being, and health equity—both in the exam room and in their communities.

The certification integrates Blue Zones' evidence-based roadmap to living better and longer, rooted in their identification of and research from the world's longest-lived and happiest cultures—the blue zones regions—with ACLM's expertise in therapeutic lifestyle interventions. Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that utilizes optimal nutrition, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, connectedness, and the avoidance of risky substances to treat, reverse, and prevent chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

The online course is organized into modules that begin by introducing participants to the blue zones regions and the Power 9® principles—the lifestyle habits identified by Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner and his research team as being shared by the world’s longest-lived people. Subsequent modules explore Blue Zones’ environment-first approach to health and longevity, applying Blue Zones principles in communities, organizations, and into patient care. The final two modules challenge participants to personally practice Blue Zones lifestyle habits, serve as changemakers, and help drive community transformation.

The creation of the “Blue Zones-Certified Physician” and “Blue Zones-Certified Health Professional” designations is a significant milestone in the global impact partnership formed last year by ACLM and Blue Zones to address the unsustainable burden of chronic disease.

Ben Leedle, CEO of Blue Zones and Co-founder of Blue Zones Project®, said: “Blue Zones has proven that you can improve population health outside clinic walls by redesigning the places and systems in which people spend the most time. Lifestyle medicine has proven that evidence-based lifestyle interventions—like nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress management—can prevent, treat, and even reverse chronic diseases. This certification bridges our environment-first approach with medicine. When you converge ‘care of the patient’ with ‘health of the public,’ you don't just treat or reverse disease, you can prevent it at scale.”

To become a "Blue Zones-Certified Physician" or "Blue Zones-Certified Health Professional," clinicians must first earn lifestyle medicine board certification. In the U.S., physicians are certified by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM) while ACLM certifies eligible health professionals. Outside the U.S., the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine (IBLM) is the certification body for physicians and eligible health professionals.

Clinicians who achieve Blue Zones certification not only deepen their knowledge and skills but also benefit from Blue Zones’ global brand recognition. Patients can feel confident knowing they are receiving care rooted in the Blue Zones principles, while clinicians gain visibility for their Blue Zones Certification through ACLM’s searchable database of certified lifestyle medicine clinicians. Clinicians can also apply Blue Zones principles in their own lives to support their well-being and resilience.

“Clinicians who achieve Blue Zones Certification will stand out in their communities as leaders in the movement to transform healthcare from a system of ‘sick care’ to one of true health restoration,” said ACLM President Padmaja Patel, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, CPE. “This certification affirms their commitment to evidence-based, lifestyle-first approaches, while also providing them with the visibility, credibility, and brand recognition that helps strengthen the trust of patients, colleagues, and health systems alike."

Since the lifestyle medicine certification exam was first offered in 2017, the number of certified physicians and health professionals has grown rapidly to more than 8,000 worldwide. On average, more than 900 additional clinicians are certified each year. Growth in recent years has accelerated even further to nearly three times faster between 2023 and 2025, underscoring the rapid adoption of lifestyle medicine across the healthcare landscape. A record 1,728 individuals registered for the 2025 exam. The 2026 exam will be offered Nov. 21 to Dec. 6.

“The growth of lifestyle medicine has been nothing short of extraordinary, and the introduction of Blue Zones Certification builds on that momentum,” said Blue Zones Certification Course Lead Faculty Michelle Tollefson, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, FACOG. “This new certification pathway gives clinicians practical tools to extend their impact well beyond the exam room—into families, workplaces, and communities—while reinforcing the critical role of lifestyle interventions in treating, reversing, and preventing chronic disease.”

The Blue Zones–ACLM Fellows Program is currently in development and will offer deeper and more specialized training in lifestyle medicine principles aligned with the Blue Zones philosophy and research.

About ACLM®

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) is the nation’s medical professional society advancing the field of lifestyle medicine as the foundation of a redesigned, value-based and equitable healthcare delivery system, essential to achieving the Quintuple Aim and whole-person health. ACLM represents, advocates for, trains, certifies, and equips its members to identify and eradicate the root cause of chronic disease by optimizing modifiable risk factors. ACLM is filling the gaping void of lifestyle medicine in medical education, providing more than 1.2 million hours of lifestyle medicine education to physicians and other health professionals since 2004, while also advancing research, clinical practice and reimbursement strategies.

About Blue Zones®

Blue Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live better, longer. The company's work is rooted in explorations and research done by founder and National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner in blue zones regions around the world, where people live extraordinarily long and/or happy lives. The original research and findings were released in Buettner's bestselling books The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones of Happiness, The Blue Zones, Thrive, and Blue Zones Kitchen, Blue Zones Challenge—all published by National Geographic books. A hit docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, was released on Netflix in 2023. Using original Blue Zones research, Blue Zones works with cities and counties to make healthy choices easier through permanent and semi-permanent changes to our human-made surroundings. Participating communities have experienced double-digit drops in obesity and tobacco use and have saved millions of dollars in healthcare costs.

 

Study finds Kansas City fare-free bus policy attracted new riders, increased overall use

Results also show policy had equity benefits, increasing mobility for overlooked populations, could guide other cities' transit decisions, author argues

University of Kansas

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LAWRENCE — Every campaign season, politicians debate the potential benefits and drawbacks of making public transit free. New research from the University of Kansas has found that when Kansas City made its bus service fare-free in 2020, it not only attracted new riders but also increased overall bus use for many. These changes have the potential to enhance mobility and quality of life, particularly for people from historically marginalized communities.

In 2020, the bistate Kansas City Area Transit Authority (KCATA) implemented a Zero-Fare policy. It had previously offered free service or discounts to veterans and high school students, but the new policy was unique.

“Kansas City wanted to sustain the fare-free policy for good, which set them apart,” said Joel Mendez, assistant professor of public affairs & administration at KU and study author. “At that time, Kansas City was the largest metro area in the world to implement fare-free transit. This study looks at what effects this kind of policy can have on mobility.”

To determine those effects, Mendez surveyed more than 500 Kansas City transit users at bus stops throughout the metro service area about how the policy influenced their ridership habits. The surveys were conducted in 2023, allowing time for the policy to take effect.

Findings indicate that the policy successfully attracted new riders, as 17% of respondents stated that they started using bus service because it became free. Younger people and women were particularly likely to be new riders. This aligns with broader U.S. trends showing that women and younger populations already use public transit more frequently. Also more likely to become new bus users are white residents, who were more than twice as likely to become new users when compared to users of color. This is significant as this segment of the population is generally less likely to use bus service. This reflects how the implementation of a fare-free policy can help transit service providers strengthen their core ridership base while also expanding it, Mendez noted.

Of those surveyed, almost 40% of preexisting bus users reported increasing the frequency of trips after fares were eliminated. While that suggests fares were a barrier to some, a majority of preexisting users reported not increasing their usage. That is likely due to several factors, such as people already maximizing their usage or the presence of barriers such as limited access to bus stops, inconvenient schedules or safety concerns, but would require more research to confirm, Mendez said.

Overall, bus use increased across varying personal characteristics such as age, race, income and vehicle access. Notably, new users without access to a working vehicle made 4.88 more trips per week than those who did have vehicle access. These findings highlight the equity implications of the zero-fare policy, suggesting it has a particularly strong impact on people who typically experience limited mobility.

The study was published in the journal Transport Policy. 

Kansas City is a unique place to implement fare-free transit, as it is a geographically large, spread-out metropolitan area and KCATA serves seven counties in a traditionally-automobile dependent region. While no two regions are exactly alike, the study results from Kansas City can help inform transit policy in other locations.

“I can argue that if we see these benefits in a sprawling area like Kansas City, they could be amplified in a denser region,” Mendez said.

The KCATA announced in spring 2025 that fares would be reinstated, although it is unclear for how long. At the same time, officials are exploring the long-term feasibility of maintaining fare-free service. Mendez is conducting further research to address questions such as if the fare-free policy helped combat social exclusion, specifically if people had better access to resources like employment and health care. He is also studying if bus users’ saving and spending habits changed because of fare elimination and how the policy influenced user experience like bus overcrowding, the system’s on-time performance and if complaints about transit declined.

The current study’s findings show a permanent fare-free policy is worth consideration among city leaders, Mendez said.

“The policy not only increased bus use but also broadened the user base to include people who don’t typically rely on transit,” Mendez said. “That shift can generate greater political support for fare-free transit, potentially leading to increased government funding and wider public backing for such policies.”

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Journal

Transport Policy

DOI

10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.103860 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Advancing mobility through fare-free transit: Evidence from the Kansas City Metropolitan Area

Long-term poverty and rising unsecured debt in early adulthood each linked to higher risk of premature death

Findings from two Columbia Mailman School studies underscore how sustained financial strain undermines long-term health

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

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November 10, 2025— Adults who experience poverty-level family income—whether sustained or intermittent—over two decades spanning young to mid-adulthood face a significantly higher risk of dying prematurely than those who are never in poverty, according to new research led by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. A companion study by the same research team finds that rising unsecured debt—such as credit card debt not tied to an asset—may be one mechanism linking early-life financial hardship to higher mortality risk. Findings from both studies are published in the same issue of The Lancet Public Health.

Both studies used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79); the poverty study tracked income data from 1985 to 2004, when participants from ages 23 to 42 years old and followed mortality outcomes through 2019, when participants were aged 53–62—well below average life expectancy for those birth years. Adults who spent more years in poverty had more than twice the rate of premature mortality compared with those never in poverty.

“Greater cumulative exposure to poverty across emerging and established adulthood is associated with a greater risk for premature mortality.” said Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School and senior author. “By only considering income at a single time point, previous studies may have missed the nuanced and dynamic nature of poverty and the health consequences of even intermittent financial hardship.” Their findings highlight the importance of interventions aimed at reducing poverty during key life periods, especially for vulnerable groups, though future research is needed to better understand the impact of support during these stages on long-term health.

 In the second study published in The Lancet Public Health, Zeki Al Hazzouri and colleagues analyzed data from 6,954 NLSY79 participants to assess how unsecured debt trajectories across 20 years of early adulthood relate to premature mortality in midlife (ages 41–62). They found that individuals whose unsecured debt increased over time had a 89 percent higher risk of death compared with those whose debt remained consistently low.

“This category of debt carries higher interest rates and does not contribute to wealth accumulation. It may be more stressful and burdensome than other types of debt and signal additional resource constraints. So, it is particularly important to study as a social determinant of health,” said Zeki Al Hazzouri.

 Together these two studies show that experiences with poverty and strained financial resources are important determinants of health outcomes, including premature mortality. Importantly, the researchers’ results draw attention to financial well-being as a dynamic factor that may have varying effects on long-term health across different periods.

An accompanying commentary in Lancet Public Health on the studies by Harvard Medical School and CUNY Professors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler underscores a striking dose–response relationship between years spent in poverty or encumbered by unsecured debt and premature mortality. They suggest the results of both studies may help to explain why poverty in the US appears more damaging to health or why individuals in low wealth quintiles are far less likely to transition to a higher income quartile than in similarly wealthy nations as insufficient social and medical supports in the U.S. may amplify effects. They call for policies that “prevent and mitigate the consequences of financial burden or otherwise deepen poverty” as a core public health strategy.

Co-authors are Calvin L Colvin, Xuexin Yu, Zihan Chen, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health; Samuel L Swift, University of New Mexico College of Population Health; Sebastian Calonico, University of California, Davis; and Katrina L Kezios, Columbia Mailman School and Boston University School of Public Health.

The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health, grants R01AG072681, R01AG072681-03S1, and K99AG084769 and R00AG084769. 

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Founded in 1922, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Columbia Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its nearly 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change and health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with more than 1,300 graduate students from 55 nations pursuing a variety of master’s and doctoral degree programs. The Columbia Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers, including ICAP and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu.

 

Dangers of direct selling and network marketing are rarely mentioned in research

Radboud University Nijmegen

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Many people still fall for new forms of network marketing, multi-level marketing (MLMs) and other organisations that, despite their products, strongly resemble pyramid schemes. However, Claudia Groß (Radboud University) and William Keep (College of New Jersey) discovered that scientific research is remarkably lenient in its assessment of this business model. This may be because much of the research in this area is funded by lobby organisations, the researchers write in a paper published today in the Journal of Marketing Management.

Network marketing is often associated with companies such as Herbalife and Tupperware. People are lured in with the promise that they can earn a lot of money with unique products or by taking a course. In practice, however, you can only earn good money by recruiting other members, and most participants end up losing money. Claudia Groß, a researcher at Radboud University, warns: “Through Instagram, TikTok and other social media, MLMs are increasingly reaching vulnerable young people with expensive courses and trade in dropshipping and cryptocurrencies. This can cost them thousands or even tens of thousands of euros.”

Risks underestimated

For their research, Groß and Keep reviewed 33 legal publications on MLMs and 68 publications from highly ranked marketing journals. Based on this, they identified eight legal risks associated with MLMs that are often mentioned in the literature. For example, participants and organisations behind MLMs often lie about how much money you can actually earn, and in many ways they have the structure of pyramid schemes, because you spend money on products you cannot sell and on services that yield little return. You earn money mainly by recruiting others, but in doing so you recruit your own competitors, who are also unable to earn anything from sales. Furthermore, claims made about products sold by MLMs are often not legal, such as supplements that supposedly cure cancer, infertility or COVID-19.

According to the researchers, these negative aspects of MLMs are clearly evident in the legal publications they reviewed. However, the authors soon noticed that the tone was quite different in the marketing research. Groß explains: “Of the 68 publications we reviewed, a large majority were positive about the MLM industry. They do not mention the problems, but focus mainly on how much consumers could earn from it and the personal growth it brings them. Sometimes, outright misleading statements are even made that downplay the risks of MLMs.”

A finger in the pie

As it turns out, the MLM industry has their fingers in the pie when it comes to marketing research. Groß: "In 40 of the 68 papers we examined, the authors had direct links to the MLM industry. In some cases, the research was funded by lobby organisations, in others, researchers had additional positions or fellowships with lobby organisations such as the Direct Selling Education Foundation. The exact nature of these fellowships is not always clear, but there was always a fairly direct link."

According to Groß, this creates the false impression that scientific research shows that there are few risks associated with MLMs. “You could compare it to the lobby of cigarette manufacturers, who for years used commissioned scientific research to downplay the risks of cigarettes. MLMs also have serious risks that are not currently being adequately addressed. This makes it easy for the industry to point to research, thereby wrongly suggesting that no new legislation is needed.”

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Journal

Journal of Marketing Management

DOI

10.1080/0267257X.2025.2578617 

Method of Research

Literature review

Article Title

The law and consumer harm in multi-level marketing: a review

Article Publication Date

10-Nov-2025