Did you know that a simple snack, such as a handful of berries or pecans, can help keep your brain as sharp as a tack? You may have also read about the study that revealed your home’s thermostat could be weakening your brain and attention span. More and more research is coming out about brain health and, consequently, neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s—including the best path for prevention.
As Best Life previously reported, “Over six million Americans live with dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that takes more than 100,000 lives each year, per the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It’s estimated that nearly half of U.S. adults over the age of 55 will develop dementia.”
One meta-analysis found that “it takes an average of four years to diagnose dementia in patients, even in the presence of early-onset symptoms. But what’s even more alarming, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, is that Alzheimer’s disease (the most common type of dementia) begins 20 years or more before symptoms manifest.”
Although dementia has no cure, medical and lifestyle interventions can assist in slowing down the disease’s progression. In fact, a new study published in the journal JAMA found that adopting these practices earlier in life can even help reduce your risk of developing dementia later on.
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The $50 million clinical trial was funded by the Alzheimer’s Association and goes by the name “The U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk,” or POINTER. It’s the largest lifestyle intervention study for Alzheimer’s disease conducted in the U.S.
Outcomes showed that getting regular physical activity, adhering to the MIND diet, exercising the brain, and staying social had “a statistically significant greater improvement” in slowing and preventing cognitive decline.
The research team, including lead author Laura Baker, PhD, a professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University of Medicine, presented their findings earlier this week at the 2025 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto.
“Nonpharmacological interventions targeting modifiable risk factors are promising, relatively low-cost, accessible, and safe approaches,” they said of the study’s results.
The large clinical trial enrolled 2,111 adults between the ages of 60 and 79. Researchers specifically sought out participants living sedentary lifestyles and consuming “suboptimal” diets, both of which are known to increase dementia risk. Furthermore, participants had to meet two additional inclusion criteria related to family history of memory impairment, underlying health risks (i.e., prediabetic), race and ethnicity, and age.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups. While both cohorts “encouraged increased physical and cognitive activity, healthy diet, social engagement, and cardiovascular health monitoring,” they “differed in structure, intensity, and accountability,” per the study.
The structured group participated in 38 team meetings over two years. These were led by trained facilitators who served as accountability coaches. They educated participants about the MIND diet and brain health, and enforced self-measured vital tracking (pulse rate, blood pressure, body temp, etc.).
This group also received free memberships for a cognitive training mobile app and the gym, as well as exercise plans that focused on aerobic, resistance, and flexibility training. Every six months, participants met with a physician for physical and cognitive exams.
Meanwhile, the self-guided group attended six team meetings over two years. However, in these settings, facilitators simply “offered encouragement without goal-directed coaching,” per the study. Participants weren’t given specialized instructions like their peers, but did receive education materials and a $75 gift card “to support behavior change.”
While both intervention groups displayed cognitive improvement at the end of the two years, the structured group significantly outperformed the self-guided group.
“Among older adults at risk of cognitive decline and dementia, a structured, higher-intensity intervention had a statistically significant greater benefit on global cognition compared with an unstructured, self-guided intervention,” they said.
Therefore, the study concluded that “structured lifestyle intervention” in the following four areas can lead to an improvement in cognitive decline and dementia risk:
- Regular moderate- to high-intensity physical exercise
- Adherence to the MIND diet (a combination of the Mediterranean and DASH diets)
- Cognitive challenge and social engagement
- Cardiovascular health monitoring
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Looking ahead, the researchers plan to extend on these findings with a four-year follow-up study.
“We really want to make recommendations that are evidence-based,” coauthor Maria Carillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, told CNN. “That’s why we have invested another $40 million in a four-year follow-up, and I believe over 80 percent of the original participants have joined.
“Brain health is a long game,” she continued. “It’s hard to track, but over time, change can be meaningful.”
