THE WASHINGTON POST – A mix of exercise, a healthy diet, social engagement and brain games could improve cognitive capabilities in older adults at risk of cognitive decline or dementia, a clinical trial has found.
The study, known as U.S. POINTER, is the largest trial to examine how healthy lifestyle behaviors can improve brain health. Its results were published in JAMA and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Monday in Toronto.
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About 45 percent of dementia cases may be preventable by addressing modifiable risk factors, according to the 2024 Lancet Commission report on dementia prevention.
“If you can modify these and improve them, then it makes sense that you will improve your brain health and you might prevent dementia,” said Kristine Yaffe, a professor and the vice chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco.
The study, which was modeled on a 2015 randomized control trial in Finland, was designed to see how cognitive benefits of structured lifestyle changes could generalize to a larger, more diverse population of Americans.
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The trial provides “a new recipe” to improve cognitive function and shows healthy behaviors matter for brain health, said Laura Baker, a professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the principal investigator of the study.
Helping those most at risk
The POINTER trial involved 2,111 adults, ages 60 to 79, across five locations, who were healthy but at risk for cognitive decline and dementia, because of lifestyle factors, including a poor diet, lack of regular exercise or cardiovascular risk.
Crucially, the researchers recruited underrepresented groups that are known to be at high risk for dementia; 31 percent of participants were from ethnic or minority groups, and 78 percent had a family history of memory impairment …
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