EVERWELL

  Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are brutal because the drugs we have don’t fix the underlying problem they mostly just manage symptoms. That’s why scientists are digging into natural sources: plants, fungi, even marine life. These compounds often look impressive in the lab, but the real test is whether they can move from Petri dish promise to something that actually helps patients. One reason natural compounds are exciting is that they’re multitaskers. Take curcumin from turmeric it reduces inflammation, fights oxidative stress, stops amyloid-beta from clumping, and even disrupts toxic tau tangles. That’s four big targets at once, which is rare for a single drug. The limitation? When you eat turmeric, only a trace of curcumin ever makes it into your bloodstream, and even less gets into the brain. In practice, sprinkling turmeric on your curry won’t prevent Alzheimer’s. Clinical trials so far have shown mixed results because of this bioavailability prob...