LatAm Dementia Trial: Coaching Beat Basic Advice 55% — SkimNews
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- LatAm-FINGERS trial of 1,065 older adults at dementia risk across 11 Latin American countries found that those receiving structured coaching improved global cognition 55% more than those given basic health advice over two years.
- SLI group participants (539 people) received continuous coaching including supervised exercise, MIND diet nutrition counseling, computerized cognitive training, cardiovascular monitoring and 38 group meetings, while the FLI group (526 people) received only periodic education and four meetings.
- SLI participants also showed significantly larger improvements in memory, executive function and processing speed than the FLI group, per findings presented at AAIC 2026 in London and published in The Lancet.
- Researchers adapted the U.S. POINTER model to regional cultures by incorporating locally available foods like avocado, quinoa, açaí, aguaymanto, chia and pumpkin seeds, plus familiar exercise such as salsa and tango.
- Lead author Lucia Crivelli of Buenos Aires's Fleni neurological institute said the team didn't simply translate the U.S. POINTER model but adapted it to local cultures and habits to make it practical and affordable as a public health strategy.
- The LatAm-FINGERS study is part of the World-Wide FINGERS network that grew from the original Finnish FINGER trial, and was funded by the Alzheimer's Association.
Why it matters: The 55% cognitive gap between coached and passively advised groups shows that low- and middle-income countries can deploy culturally adapted lifestyle programs where drug therapies are unaffordable; Alzheimer's Association's Heather Snyder tied the gains to structure and social support, not specific foods or activities, hinting lifestyle programs could later be combined with emerging dementia drugs.
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