Coached Lifestyle Changes Sharpened Thinking More Than General Advice in Older Latin Americans

CATEGORY: HEALTHY AGING & LONGEVITY

If you’ve watched a parent’s memory fray, you’ve probably wondered what actually protects an aging brain. A two-year trial in eleven Latin American countries just gave one of the clearest answers yet: among 1,065 adults aged 60 to 77 at raised risk of cognitive decline, a closely coached program of exercise, brain training and healthier eating improved overall thinking scores 55% more than the same advice handed out in general form.¹

Thirty-Eight Group Meetings Against Four

The trial is called LatAm-FINGERS, and it ran at a dozen sites from Mexico to Argentina. Chance decided which version each person got. Both groups were pointed at the same healthy habits. The difference was the scaffolding around them. One group got 38 group meetings over two years, supervised exercise sessions, computerized brain training, regular checks on blood pressure and other heart risks, and nutrition counseling built on the MIND diet, an eating pattern that leans on leafy greens, berries, nuts, beans and fish. The other group heard the same recommendations at just four meetings and applied them on their own.

Both Groups Gained. The Coached Group Gained Half Again as Much.

Thinking was measured with a battery of memory, attention and processing-speed tests, combined into one overall score and tracked for two years. Scores rose in both groups, as they often do when people retake tests and start paying attention to their health. The coached group’s yearly gain was about half again as large, a gap far too consistent to be chance. Memory showed the widest spread between the groups. People stuck with it, too. More than 82% finished the full two years, and attendance at the coached sessions averaged roughly 72%.

Three Continents, Same Direction

Finland’s FINGER trial reported in 2015 that this kind of structured program sharpened cognition in at-risk older adults.² The US POINTER trial found the same thing in 2,111 Americans last year.³ The LatAm team stressed that they didn’t simply translate the American playbook; foods, exercise settings and session formats were rebuilt around local habits and tighter budgets, and the approach held up anyway. What we still can’t say is whether better test scores become fewer dementia diagnoses down the road. The follow-up studies watching for that are already running.

Key Takeaways

• Coached, structured lifestyle change improved overall cognition 55% more than general health advice over two years in 1,065 older Latin American adults at risk of decline.
• Scores improved in both groups; the structured program’s edge was clearest on memory.
• Trials in Finland and the United States landed the same way, which strengthens the case that this result is real and travels across cultures and income levels.
• Gains on thinking tests aren’t yet proof of fewer dementia cases. That longer question remains open.

References

1. Crivelli L, Suemoto CK, Sosa AL, et al. Multidomain lifestyle intervention for the prevention of cognitive decline in at-risk older adults in Latin America (LatAm-FINGERS): a single-blind, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. 2026;S0140-6736(26)01278-X. link
2. Ngandu T, Lehtisalo J, Solomon A, et al. A 2 year multidomain intervention of diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk monitoring versus control to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk elderly people (FINGER): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. 2015;385(9984):2255–2263. link
3. Baker LD, Espeland MA, Whitmer RA, et al. Structured vs Self-Guided Multidomain Lifestyle Interventions for Global Cognitive Function: The US POINTER Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025;334(8):681–691. link