| Summary: | Two diseases of the modern world – Alzheimer’s and diabetes mellitus – are linked by epidemiology, genetics and molecular pathogenesis. They may also be linked by the remarkable observation that insulin signaling sets the limits on longevity. In worms, flies and mice, disrupting insulin signaling increases lifespan leading some to speculate that caloric restriction might extend lifespan in man. It is our contention that man is already a long lived organism, specifically with a remarkably high post-fertility life span, and that it is this that results in the high prevalence of Alzheimer’s and diabetes. We review evidence for this hypothesis that carries specific predictions including that other animals with exceptionally long post-reproductive lifespan will have increased risk of both diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease and present novel evidence that Dolphin, like man, an animal with exceptional longevity, might be one of the very few natural models of Alzheimer’s disease.
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