Older adults at risk for dementia improved their memory, thinking skills, and overall cognitive performance after participating in two culturally tailored lifestyle programs in 11 Latin American countries. The greatest benefits were seen among participants who received more structured guidance, including regular training and support.
The Alzheimer’s Association-funded study, known as the Latin American Lifestyle Intervention Initiative to Prevent Cognitive Decline (LatAm-FINGERS), followed participants for two years.
The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2026 in London. They build on results from the US Protecting Brain Health Through Lifestyle Interventions to Reduce Risk (US POINTER) Study, which shows that programs that combine physical activity, healthy eating, cognitive training, and social engagement can be adapted to different cultures, health systems, and communities. The study was also published in the lancet.
Adapting brain health programs to local cultures
“The results demonstrate for the first time in Latin America that culturally tailored lifestyle interventions can be successfully implemented in diverse countries and communities, and provide cognitive benefits to populations that are often underrepresented in clinical research,” said Lucia Crivelli, Ph.D., lead author of the study and principal investigator at Fleni, a neurological institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“We don’t just translate the US POINTER model into Spanish and Portuguese. We adapt it to local cultures and habits while preserving its core elements, making the program practical, affordable and feasible as a public health strategy,” added Crivelli.
To make the intervention work in many different settings, multinational working groups included representatives from each participating country. They determined which parts of the program needed to be kept consistent and which could be adjusted based on local culture, climate, available food, access to technology, and participants’ preferences.
Exercise options included family activities such as salsa and tango, along with outdoor group exercises in public parks. Nutritional guidance also modified the MIND diet to better suit regional eating habits and food availability. Foods such as avocado, quinoa, açaí, aguaymanto, chia and pumpkin seeds were incorporated as locally accessible options. Study materials were translated and adapted to local communities and additional assistance was provided to people with limited experience using digital technology.
Benefits in diverse communities
“LatAm-FINGERS included significant racial and ethnic diversity, and a wide range in education and socioeconomic status (SES). The results demonstrate that brain health can be improved in diverse communities representing different cultures and with different access to resources,” said Laura D. Baker, Ph.D., professor of gerontology and geriatrics, internal medicine, at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Advocate Health, and principal investigator of US POINTER. “We now have a second important finding in a completely different part of the world, which suggests that the US POINTER formula can be adapted to anyone.”
“I am confident that we can successfully use US POINTER’s structured intervention to expand our tools and resources to further engage Latino and Hispanic communities in the US – and beyond to other communities – and the program will be equally effective,” Baker said.
Researchers believe that programs that address several risk factors at once may offer greater benefits because Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are affected by multiple aspects of health and lifestyle. With dementia becoming more common around the world, the results point to the potential value of practical, affordable and adaptable lifestyle programs to reduce risk, even in low- and middle-income countries.
“The LatAm-FINGERS results add to the US POINTER findings by extending the evidence to Latin America and strengthening the argument that these behavioral and lifestyle interventions can be tailored to diverse populations and communities around the world,” said Heather M. Snyder, Ph.D., senior vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association.
“A key message from this study is that social structure and support are important,” Snyder continued. “Addressing multiple lifestyle factors can have a positive impact on brain health and may eventually be combined with emerging drug therapies to reduce cognitive decline and the risk of dementia.”
Comparison of structured support with general advice
The analysis included 1,065 people enrolled in 12 study sites in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Participants were randomly placed into one of two groups that differed in how intensive and structured the intervention was and how much ongoing support participants received.
The Systematic Lifestyle Intervention (SLI) group included 539 participants. They received ongoing training and support through supervised exercise, nutritional counseling based on a modified MIND diet, computerized cognitive training, cardiovascular risk monitoring, and 38 group meetings designed to foster social connection and responsibility.
The Flexible Lifestyle Intervention (FLI) group included 526 participants. They received regular health education along with extensive lifestyle recommendations. During the two-year study, these participants attended four group meetings covering diet, physical activity, cognitive and social engagement, and vascular risk management. Unlike the SLI group, they did not receive training or ongoing supervision.
55% more improvement in general cognition
After two years, the more structured SLI program produced significantly stronger cognitive gains than the FLI approach.
Participants in the SLI group had 55% greater improvement on a composite measure of global cognition compared to participants in the FLI group. They also experienced significantly greater improvements in memory, executive function, and processing speed.
LatAm-FINGERS and US POINTER are part of the Worldwide FINGERS network. The international effort grew out of the original Finnish FINGER trial, which found that interventions targeting several lifestyle factors at the same time can help preserve cognitive function in older adults at risk of decline.