We may be skirting on the morbid here, but you are probably right.  It seems obesity is the new tobacco.  The longer life expectancies we have attained are the most likely reason for the burgeoning numbers of Alzheimer's patients, and it is my contention that long term dementia care is far more expensive than an early death from cardiac arrest.

Perhaps our obsession with maximizing the number of years we spend on this planet is misguided, and we should instead worry about the quality of life during those years.