We already knew that healthy habits sustain brain health and delay cognitive decline. We just lacked the hard evidence. That just changed with the U.S. POINTER Study, presented at the 2025 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Toronto at the end of July.
This seminal study clearly demonstrates that comprehensive lifestyle interventions – including diet, exercise, cognitive training and vascular risk monitoring – can improve or maintain cognitive function in older adults at risk for cognitive decline.
This is no small milestone: Evidence-based findings are the linchpin for confident decision-making. And the U.S. POINTER Study swings wide open the door to more effective public health strategies that can now tie to clear evaluation metrics. That, in turn, can enable more efficient use of resources and greater societal impact.
To put it another way, the U.S. POINTER Study’s evidence-based findings empower policymakers, funders – and notably, the healthcare industry – to whole-heartedly support these types of interventional approaches in the fight against Alzheimer’s. In terms of dollars and cents, the study bolsters the argument that brain health is a business issue – and that the healthcare industry should be driving innovative approaches and solutions for enhanced patient outcomes and in turn, cost savings. To put that in context: By 2050, the number of people living with dementia will triple to 139 million and its yearly toll of $1.3 trillion will jump nine-fold globally.
A closer look
The brain is now where the heart was a generation ago. It’s been years since policymakers and the public finally accepted that getting on a treadmill and eating healthy fats boost our chances of becoming and remaining heart healthy.
The U.S. POINTER Study allows for a similar shift – one toward greater investment, smarter policy, faster innovation, more effective best practices in healthcare delivery and management, and particularly, business buy-in.
But what exactly did the U.S. POINTER study show? Briefly, researchers compared two community-based interventions targeting multiple lifestyle domains. Both addressed physical exercise, nutrition, cognitive activity, social engagement and vascular risk monitoring. They differed in intensity and support.
In the structured program, participants attended 38 facilitated peer-team sessions over two years with specific, measurable goals for aerobic and resistance exercise, flexibility training, adherence to the MIND diet (a Mediterranean/DASH hybrid), cognitive training exercises and other intellectual/social activities, plus regular health goalsetting with clinicians. The self-guided program provided only six community meetings with general encouragement for participants to choose their own lifestyle changes without goal-directed coaching.
Both interventions resulted in cognitive benefits. But the more intensive, structured approach produced significantly greater gains, protecting against small age-related decline; and global cognitive scores improved over two years. The self-guided arm yielded less improvement.
Regardless, gains appeared across the board among a diverse sample of older adults at high dementia risk. The cognitive benefits were consistent regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, cardiovascular health or APOE-ε4 status (a gene that increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s).
The findings clearly demonstrated that even in resource-limited settings or for patients unable to commit to intensive programs, meaningful lifestyle changes can still make a difference – showing promise that structured non-pharmacological interventions can be tailored to diverse populations, potentially reducing disparities in brain health outcomes.
Moving ahead in the global effort
Alzheimer’s and dementia truly are a global threat. Beyond the immense harm they cause to human health and well-being, these diseases are creating unsustainable healthcare costs for governments, families and businesses.
The U.S. POINTER Study provides credible, objective validation that structured lifestyle interventions can indeed enhance brain health. It legitimizes lifestyle interventions and offers a catalyst for shaping health policy, attracting sustained funding, developing evidence-based programs, and investing in healthcare business practices and product solutions targeting the entire lifespan – including working-age years.
Actually, there already are noteworthy examples of bold action – including in Houston, where leaders are positioning the city as the new “Brain Capital,” thanks to the $3 billion Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT) ballot measure that voters will consider in the November elections. Modeled after the state’s successful cancer initiative, the fund – if passed – could attract top researchers, technology investments and businesses focused on neuroscience. If successful, this longtime U.S. “Energy Capital” would become a global hub for brain health and the emerging brain economy as well.
Recent McKinsey Health Institute research, in fact, demonstrates how investments in brain health and neurotechnology would have a direct impact on the Houston and Texas economies – specifically on the gross domestic product – setting the stage for policy initiatives and workforce development strategies that ultimately could serve as models for other states and even globally.
By forging partnerships between business leaders, investors, neuroscientists and policymakers, Houston is now poised to evoke change and to become a model for brain health advancements, neurotech and workforce optimization. Indeed, the city’s forward thinking shows how science can be turned into a business case where research, policy and industry align with clear, shared goals.
All told, the landmark POINTER Study shows us what’s possible. But above all, it underscores the urgency of bold, action-oriented collaboration within the healthcare business community and across sectors, disciplines and borders. By seizing opportunity now, healthcare businesses can lead a new movement where supporting brain health is both a public good and a competitive advantage.
As the world’s population ages and the societal balance of young-to-old shifts even more rapidly, there’s no runway left. We must work together to scale solutions and build systems that drive brain health into every corner of the world. We have the proof. We must act quickly and together.
George Vradenburg
George Vradenburg is the Founding Chairman of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC), which he launched in 2021 to accelerate innovation and strengthen the global response to Alzheimer’s disease. DAC works to translate evidence from rigorous scientific studies into real-world, scalable solutions that can be deployed across health systems worldwide — from the United States to fast-aging regions of the Global South, including Africa and Latin America.
