by Sarah Ladd, Kentucky Lantern
August 20, 2025

Kentucky advocates for people with Alzheimer’s are excited by new research showing that lifestyle interventions like exercising and learning can slow cognitive decline. 

Published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in July, The U.S. POINTER Randomized Clinical Trial showed that being social and keeping the brain active can improve brain health over time. 

The Alzheimer’s Association, which helped fund the trial, says it’s the nation’s “first large-scale, randomized controlled clinical trial to demonstrate that an accessible and sustainable healthy lifestyle intervention can protect cognitive function in diverse populations in communities.” 

Erin Abner, the chair of the department of epidemiology and environmental health at the University of Kentucky  Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, said experts were already communicating to patients the importance of healthy lifestyle choices. 

Now, she said, this new research provides “additional evidence” that those interventions are effective in supporting brain health. 

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Researchers haven’t been able to find a way to cure dementia, Abner said, and are looking for ways to slow cognitive decline or prevent it before it takes hold. 

“What this particular research builds on is the idea, I think, that heart health is brain health, and so how do we maximize our brain’s ability to resist maybe the things that we can’t stop from happening?” Abner said. 

Alzheimer’s disease, which falls under the umbrella of dementia, is characterized by memory loss and is incurable, though treatments exist. 

One of those treatments underwent clinical trials at the University of Kentucky, Lecanemab (brand name Leqembi). This is an antibody that targets — and in some cases, removes — amyloid plaques from the brain, and has shown some success in slowing cognitive decline. Amyloid plaques are proteins that form in the brain and are believed to be a significant driver of Alzheimer’s. Lecanemab was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2023. 

Abner said she was “excited” to learn at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto this summer that Lecanemab is ”safer than we had hoped.” After two years on the market, she said, “we see less adverse events.” Lecanemab is approved by Medicare and some private insurers. 

Shannon White, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana chapter, said lifestyle habits and medical treatments “go hand in hand” in managing symptoms.  

“What I am most excited about is that not only are we working on treatments once you are diagnosed, but at the same time, we are also working on how to prevent, slow or stop cognitive decline with brain health and prevention,” White said. “Working on both of those things at the same time is really exciting and proves that you just don’t have to look for a cure, that you can look for ways to improve your quality and length of life and possibly never have cognitive decline with some of these interventions.” 

More than 80,000 Kentucky residents 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s, and an estimated 160,000 people in the state provide unpaid care to their loved ones who have the condition. Those caregivers are providing a service worth $4.9 billion, the Lantern previously reported. 

White believes that if people at risk of dementia engage in these positive lifestyle behaviors, it can lessen this burden down the road. 

“If you do lifestyle interventions that could slow cognitive decline, and then if you do get a diagnosis and you are on treatments that could slow cognitive decline, that makes the caregiver burden less stressful,” White said. 

The U.S. Pointer study 

Over two years, researchers looked at two degrees of lifestyle interventions in more than 2,000 participants ages 60 to 79 who lived sedentary lifestyles and had a family history of dementia. 

“These are people with normal cognition, but at the right age and with the right sort of profile that we would expect them to start declining and developing cognitive impairment and dementia,” Abner explained. 

Half of the study’s participants underwent a structured approach to lifestyle changes. Small groups of 10-15 met 38 times over the course of 2 years, went to the YMCA for exercise, got nutrition education, met with an Alzheimer’s Association coach and more. The other half followed a similar path of lifestyle changes, but with “less intensity,” Abner said. The groups with more intensive lifestyle interventions did best, but both groups did well. 

“What (researchers) found was that even with the less intense version of this — of simply helping people, giving them the materials, giving them the knowledge that exercise is important, heart health is important, your diet is important — both of those groups of people did better cognitively as the trial went on,” she said. “And so the people who got that really intense, structured intervention did better. But for me, the really good news is that the lighter intervention group also got better. Their cognition also improved.” 

Interventions will look different person by person, Abner said. It may include reading a book, learning something new like a language or instrument, taking classes, getting out of the house and into social settings, working out and more. People don’t have to go from 0 to 100 either, White said. 

“These are about small, incremental lifestyle changes, such as being more social, making sure you’re not lonely or isolated, having fun, doing brain games like Wordle or reading a book, taking a walk three or four days a week,” White said. “It doesn’t have to be … something that is going to turn your life upside down, but it’s just important to stay active, both mentally and physically, and also be sure that you are having fun and engaged in your community.” 

Lexington leads the state with a “dementia friendly” business initiative and is “ahead of the curve,” White said, when it comes to being welcoming for people with Alzheimer’s. More than two dozen businesses, churches, health care providers and nonprofits have recognized the importance of people with Alzheimer’s being out in the community, and have trained employees on how to best accommodate forgetfulness, confusion or other issues that may arise.

“If someplace is dementia friendly,” White said, “then those waiters and waitresses and staff understand that someone might be coming in that has dementia and might need a little bit more time, or might need a little bit more understanding and care, when they’re in that setting.” 

Research makes clear that “being socially isolated is bad for us,” Abner said. Scientists will continue to communicate the wide-ranging benefits of being active and social, she said. 

Meanwhile, research into symptoms management is critical for people with Alzheimer’s and those at risk for Dementia. 

“I think there’s a lot to be excited about from the research that’s coming out now,”Abner said. “I hope that the public, especially the taxpaying public, starts to see some of these benefits and understand why we need to do this work.” 

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This content presents a factual and balanced overview of recent Alzheimer’s research and lifestyle interventions without promoting a particular political agenda. It focuses on scientific findings, healthcare advancements, and community support initiatives, which are generally nonpartisan topics. The article emphasizes public health and caregiving concerns relevant across the political spectrum, avoiding ideological language or partisan framing.