Summary :
We live with a plethora of “epidemics”—obesity, diabetes, autism, prostate cancer, breast cancer, HIV/AIDS, child abuse, crime, and terrorism, to name a few. Among this multiplication of catastrophes, reports about a proliferating epidemic of Alzheimer disease are increasingly conspicuous in the media. In his book The Longevity Revolution Robert Butler, gerontologist, psychiatrist, and Pulitzer Prize winner, argues that one of the triumphs of the 20th century has been the dramatic increase in the numbers of people who live to old age, but he quickly adds that this has brought about an increase in the number of individuals suffering from dementia. “Unless we find ways to prevent or cure Alzheimer’s and other severe dementing diseases,” Butler argues, “the world will shortly be confronted with . . . the epidemic of the 21st century.”1 Extrapolating from this undeniable association of aging and dementia, it would appear that the ever-increasing proportion of elderly individuals in the world constitutes a burgeonin

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