It is the study of the bacteria present in the oral cavity that represents the new frontier for discovering the secret of longevity in the Sardinian population of Ogliastra, one of the five "Blue zones" of the world, i.e. areas in which life expectancy is considerably higher than to the rest of the planet.

The Foundation for the protection of the identity of Ogliastra and Barbagia di Seulo has commissioned researchers from the Department of Surgical Sciences of the University of Cagliari, led by Germano Orrù, a scientific project on the impact of lifestyle on the oral microbiota, studying the ancient and recent population of the Ogliastra community and their eating habits.

«The study of the balance of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria in the mouth - explains the president of the Foundation, Flavio Cabitza - will allow us to evaluate the risk status in relation to diseases in the current population and to compare it with that of ancestors and other ethnic groups. The research is divided into three phases: in the first we will descend into the ossuaries of the cemeteries to recover the skulls of over ninety-year-olds; in the second, instead, the bacteria from the mouth of all the over 80s living in the area will be collected; the last phase is the one that will take place in the laboratory on human cells taken and will serve to understand what is the diet that has kept the mouth bacteria in balance, from which many diseases often start, leading these people to an advanced age. From this study - Cabitza clarifies - we are trying to scientifically demonstrate the relationship between our diet and longevity ».

The University of Sassari is also collaborating in the project, which has prepared the PhD calls for young researchers who want to try their hand at studying the centenarians of Ogliastra. "We are aiming for a large participation of the new generations - hopes Professor Grazia Fenu of the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the Sassari University - The goal is to prepare an agreement for the creation of a scientific center in the Perdasdefogu military base in which to study, in addition to genetics, the psychology of centenarians and to obtain all the elements that have had to do with longevity".