A closer look
You thought you were taking your meds? Cute. Your gut bacteria might be beating you to them. Scientists discovered that the foundational Parkinson's treatment, levodopa, relies on entering the brain to replace missing dopamine. But Enterococcus faecalis, a common gut bacterium, aggressively intercepts the drug in your digestive tract. It uses an enzyme to metabolize the medication into dopamine right there in the gut, where it's totally useless to your nervous system. This microbiome-driven theft perfectly explains why so many patients suffer wildly unpredictable drug responses.
