The Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, published in the Lancet in 2024, identified 14 risk factors that, if completely eliminated, could prevent 45% of dementia cases worldwide.⁴ These risk factors can be divided into two groups. First, factors that cause brain damage: diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, air pollution, head injuries, physical inactivity, high alcohol consumption and untreated depression. Second, factors that reduce cognitive reserve, the ability of the brain to tolerate damage: low education, uncorrected hearing or vision loss and social isolation. The potential for preventing dementia has been shown to be higher in New Zealand and even higher in Maori and Pacific peoples compared with Europeans (Figure 1), due to higher risk factor scores compared with those used by the Lancet Commission.⁵