PowerPoint apparently shows each font with its own default numerals lining option.
In the below example the above is displayed in Calibri and below in Corbel font, and the numerals are handled differently :
I therefore believe that choosing your fonts with care is the only way to change numerals lining
in PowerPoint, based on the tests detailed below.
I went as far as embedding a Word object in PowerPoint and copying into it text that used
the same font but with different advanced lining options, and got at first this perfect display :
However, the moment I switched the focus from the object, the display suddenly became this:
The display stayed this way also in presentation mode.
However, when I then clicked inside the object, so placing it again in edit mode, suddenly the
display switched back to the previous image, with numerals lining now done correctly!
So confusedly, it seems like Word is used to edit the Word object, so numerals lining is supported
at that stage.
But after the editing is done, PowerPoint takes over and displays it in its own wretched way.
My tests were done using PowerPoint 2010 and remain to be verified with PowerPoint 2013,
but I do not believe that numerals lining in implemented at all in the PowerPoint display engine.
I think it is a horrible idea for Word and PowerPoint to use different display engines for text,
but this is the way it apparently works. As both seem to use the same
Office Open XML document format, as seen
from the fact that Word can pick up where it left off, this is even more lamentable.