If you are looking to live beyond the average American’s lifespan, you can take inspiration from a small town in California.
In Loma Linda, California, one of the world’s famed Blue Zones – areas across the globe where people routinely live into their 90s and beyond – residents are not just living healthy for longevity; for many of the area’s large Seventh-Day Adventist population, they are living for a higher purpose.
As Dr Gary Fraser, a cardiologist at Loma Linda University and a longtime researcher of the community, explained to the Daily Mail, the philosophical ‘why’ behind overall healthy habits might be the most important ingredient to a generally healthy and happy community.
According to Loma Linda cardiologist Dr Gary Fraser, a vegetarian diet can add years to your life and a supportive community can make those years sustainable
The sunny pocket of Southern California with a Seventh-Day Adventist population of around 9,000 has long entranced longevity experts who see it as a living blueprint for healthy aging.
Here, faith shapes every aspect of daily life.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church promotes a meat-free diet and a strong sense of community. In turn, it sees life expectancy rates that routinely surpass 90 years – more than a decade longer than the national average of 78.
In addition to generally following a plant-based diet, Adventists also abstain from smoking and alcohol, engage in regular, moderate exercise like daily walking and observe a weekly 24-hour Sabbath dedicated to rest, stress relief and connection with family and community.
For decades, doctors have prescribed these exact behaviors and habits to protect the heart, reduce the risk of chronic disease and promote good mental health.
Below, Daily Mail details the longevity-promoting habits of Loma Linda residents.
With roughly 9,000 Adventists routinely living past 90, more than a decade longer than the average American, this sunny Southern California town (Loma Linda City Hall is pictured) offers a living blueprint for healthy aging
Plant-based diet
According to Fraser, a vegetarian diet is the single most important ingredient for longevity.
The Adventist diet leans heavily on vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. Meat is rare and never the star of the dinner plate. Dairy and eggs are common for many, while stricter followers go fully vegan.
Fraser said: ‘Even though Adventists officially don’t believe that being a vegetarian, for instance, is a mark of greater moral perfection, they do believe that treating our bodies with respect and good care is a mark of respect, also to God, who we believe was our Creator.’
A 2025 study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, using data from the sweeping Adventist Health Study, reported that vegetarians had a 12 percent lower risk of developing any cancer compared to non-vegetarians.
The protective effects were most pronounced for specific cancers.
Vegetarians had a 45 percent lower risk of stomach cancer, a 21 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer, and a 25 percent lower risk of lymphoproliferative cancers, which include lymphomas and lymphoid leukemias.
A separate study in the same journal, using the Adventist Health Study data, reported in 2024 that when comparing non-vegetarians with vegetarians, the latter had an 11 percent lower risk of death from any cause at age 65.
Adherence to a plant-forward diet has contributed to the town’s relatively low obesity rate – 26 percent compared to 29 percent in the surrounding county.
Research on Seventh-Day Adventist health is part of the landmark Adventist Health Studies, based at Loma Linda University. Widely regarded as some of the most definitive work on diet and longevity, the studies have followed nearly 100,000 participants for over two decades
The gap widens further with chronic disease. Diabetes diagnoses are nine percent in Loma Linda compared to 14 percent countywide, while heart disease diagnoses are five percent of the population compared to eight percent of other county residents.
The protective effects of a plant-based diet were even more pronounced for specific causes: vegetarians were 48 percent less likely to die from renal failure, 43 percent less likely to die from infectious diseases, and 49 percent less likely to die from diabetes at younger ages.
Community and social support
According to Fraser, nearly as important as a healthy diet is the social support of a community that shares and reinforces values.
He said: ‘There is the social support from the congregation, from the kind of messages that you hear from up the front of the church.’
The five recognized Blue Zones around the world, where people reach age 100 at 10 times the rate in the US on average, all share a strong sense of local community, with members supporting one another.
In Blue Zones like Okinawa and Sardinia, lifelong social circles and daily interaction create a web of support that reduces stress and encourages healthy living. These bonds offer emotional stability, reinforce good habits and instill a lasting sense of purpose.
In Loma Linda, the church is woven into the fabric of the community. Members gather not just on the Sabbath, but throughout the week for potluck meals, study groups and religious fellowship. These gatherings are where people share news, exchange meals and offer support.
As Fraser noted, there is a natural passing down of knowledge — how to prepare a meatless meal, how to care for an aging neighbor, how to show up when it counts.
The weekly Sabbath, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, functions as a community-wide reset. Work is set aside, people turn off their screens and time is freed up for family and reflection.
A sense of purpose
Among the hallmarks of Blue Zones is a strong personal sense of purpose.
Adventists, through their deep sense of spirituality and purpose, experience better mental health, which matters for longevity.
A 2017 study found that deeper religious engagement, which includes positive coping, intrinsic faith and personal religiousness, was strongly linked to lower rates of depression, anxiety and negative affect.
It wasn’t church attendance and responsibilities that directly affected general emotional health, the study said.
It was the internal, meaning-based aspects of their faith, such as coping, personal importance and intrinsic belief, that appeared to buffer against psychological distress and all-cause mortality.
When people have a strong reason to get up in the morning, setbacks feel less catastrophic and more like meaningful challenges to overcome.
Having a sense of purpose makes it easier to stay motivated and persevere with obstacles that present themselves, translating to emotional resilience and hope.
A strong sense of purpose – ‘ikigai’ in Okinawa, ‘plan de vida’ in Nicoya (another Blue Zone) – is linked to a 15 percent drop in premature mortality, seven to eight additional years of life and lower rates of Alzheimer’s, arthritis and stroke.
Purpose and spirituality are protective. Adventists experience better mental health as a result, and that psychological well-being is a key ingredient in their longevity (stock)
Volunteerism
Adventists are brought up to prioritize volunteer work and strong social support. Loma Linda University Health’s volunteer program, founded in 1958, has grown to include more than 1,000 volunteers annually.
Together, they contribute over 150,000 hours of service each year across more than 50 programs within the LLUH system.
Research shows that volunteers have a 24 percent lower risk of dying compared to non-volunteers, with as little as two hours per week – roughly 100 hours annually – sufficient to produce meaningful health gains.
One study found that moderate volunteering was linked to a 46 percent lower risk of heart attack.
Volunteering is also a significant mental health booster. According to the Adventist faith, mental and physical health are deeply connected.
When you volunteer, you shift focus outward, away from your own worries and toward the needs of others.
That shift in perspective lowers cortisol, boosts mood and reinforces the sense of purpose that Blue Zone researchers call essential for longevity.
Abstinence from smoking and alcohol
Adventists avoid smoking and alcohol, two of the biggest threats to long-term health. For Seventh-day Adventists, it’s a matter of faith. The body is viewed as a temple, and substances that cloud the mind or damage vital organs are seen as incompatible with respect for the body.
Avoiding tobacco almost eliminates the leading cause of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Steering clear of heavy alcohol use protects the liver, lowers the risk of certain cancers and reduces the strain on the heart.
Asthma, a condition often triggered or worsened by smoking and environmental toxins, afflicts 12 percent of Loma Linda residents compared to 15 percent in the surrounding San Bernardino County.