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A structured two-year healthy lifestyle program significantly improved memory and thinking abilities in older adults, with participants showing cognitive gains about 55 percent greater per year than those who received only general health advice, according to a major international study published in The Lancet.
The findings come from the Latin American Initiative for Lifestyle Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline (LatAm-FINGERS), the first large-scale brain health clinical trial specifically designed for older adults in Latin America.
The study involved 1,065 adults aged 60 to 77 from 11 Latin American countries, addressing a major research gap as the region’s rapidly growing elderly population has rarely been represented in dementia prevention studies.
Participants in the intervention group followed an intensive, culturally adapted lifestyle program over two years. The routine included supervised exercise sessions four days a week, personalized dietary counseling based on the brain-healthy MIND diet, computer-based cognitive training, regular monitoring of blood pressure, weight and blood sugar, and group activities to encourage social interaction.
The program was tailored to local cultures, incorporating regional dances such as salsa and tango into exercise sessions, while dietary recommendations focused on affordable, locally available foods.
By contrast, participants in the comparison group attended only four one-hour health education sessions over the two-year period, where they received general advice on healthy living.
Researchers found that the structured program produced the greatest improvements in memory, along with measurable gains in planning, problem-solving and processing speed. The cognitive benefits were consistent regardless of participants’ age, education level, ethnicity or genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
More than 80 percent of participants completed the full two-year program, and researchers reported no serious health problems linked to the intervention.
The authors said the results demonstrate that culturally adapted lifestyle programs can effectively improve brain health in Latin America, with cognitive improvements exceeding those reported in similar studies conducted in Finland and the United States.
However, they cautioned that the trial measured performance on cognitive tests rather than directly proving the program can prevent dementia. They said longer-term follow-up will be needed to determine whether the benefits translate into a reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia over time.