It’s the help your heart needs when your heart needs help the most: A new study finds that the curry spice turmeric can help you survive bypass surgery and avoid a heart attack during your recovery.

Researchers from Thailand randomly assigned 121 bypass patients to either a gram of curcumin — the main compound in turmeric — taken four times a day, or a placebo for three days before and five days after the procedure.

Those who got the curcumin were 65 percent less likely to have a heart attack in that time than those who got the placebo, even after adjusting for other possible risk factors.

Those who got the real deal also had lower levels of the inflammation marker C-reactive protein as well as malondialdehyde, a marker of oxidative stress — and I’m sure that’s because curcumin is both a powerful anti-inflammatory and a terrific antioxidant.

And you don’t have to be a heart patient to enjoy those benefits.

Get some now, and you can lower your risk of even getting those cardiovascular problems in the first place, since studies on mice have shown that curcumin can help clear fatty deposits from the arteries.

Other studies have shown it may help prevent arrhythmias, while still other research has found that curcumin can fight everything from inflammatory bowel disease to cancer to arthritis.

One study I just told you about found it might even help reverse the damage of Parkinson’s disease.

Indian foods might be the most delicious way to get curcumin, but it’s not the most efficient — especially here in the United States, where most people simply don’t eat it all that often.

Fortunately, curcumin supplements are inexpensive and easy to find — just make sure yours comes from a company you trust and not the local dollar store.

Love curry? You’re going to love it even more now: Researchers have found that a compound locked inside a key curry spice has the power to stop Parkinson’s disease in its tracks.

The compound is curcumin, which is found in the spice turmeric — something I already recommend as a safe and natural anti-inflammatory and an excellent alternative to many common painkillers.

Now, it might also become a front-line defense against Parkinson’s disease, a condition the mainstream has been almost powerless to beat or even treat.

One of the hallmarks of the disease is a clumping of certain proteins in the brain (specifically alpha-synuclein). But researchers say curcumin seeks out those proteins and clings to them — and when it clings, the proteins can’t clump.

Another problem with those proteins is that they move too slowly to “fold,” which is the process by which proteins are built. And once again, it’s curcumin to the rescue, because the researchers found that the spice compound can also bring the folding process back up to speed.

Curcumin isn’t just what helps give curry its flavor. It’s also what gives the dish its color — and the reason why your fingers might be stained for days if you happen to touch the turmeric while you’re cooking with it.

It’s such a powerful coloring agent that autopsies of older Indians and Asians who’ve eaten this stuff for most of their lives often reveal a yellowish tinge to the brain itself.

Despite that tinge, however, most of the curcumin we eat or take in supplement form doesn’t actually make it to the brain. As a result, the researchers behind the new study say the Parkinson’s benefits might not last.

But that’s not the only way to get curcumin.

There’s a much more efficient way to get almost any nutrient, and that’s intravenously. And so far, studies on mice have shown that curcumin delivered this way has a quicker and better route to the brain itself.

Obviously, we’ll need to see more research before we start injecting each other with curry spice — but it seems to me we’re on the right track here.

One minute, you’re a healthy and active senior who wouldn’t dream of popping an Advil, much less a powerful prescription painkiller. The next, you’re a certified addict who can’t get through the day without an opioid drug.

Think that can’t possibly happen to you? There are lots of hardcore pill poppers out there who once thought the same thing, including plenty of seniors.

And now, new numbers show just how easily older folks get hooked, with a full 10 percent of the seniors who get these meds after minor surgical procedures still taking them a year later.

These are relatively low-pain operations that might not require opioid drugs at all — like cataract and gall bladder procedures — but the new study shows that many docs give the drugs out anyway, automatically, and without even being asked.

And the seniors who get the meds this way — as if they come as part of a package deal with the operation — are 44 percent more likely to be among the long-term users.

Even worse, the seniors still using the drugs aren’t showing any signs of stopping or even slowing down. In fact, many of them have switched to higher doses and more powerful drugs.

That’s a sure sign of addiction, since a notorious opioid side effect is tolerance. The more you take them, the less they work — which is why long-term users are on a constant hunt for something stronger.

This should be a wake-up call for doctors everywhere — because if you think these drugs ruin young lives, you should see the toll they take on the elderly.

Opioid painkillers can put you in a mental fog and cause serious cognitive problems. They can also make you loopy and unsteady on your feet, turning a once-vibrant senior into a fall waiting to happen.

And if you’re a senior yourself, you know the reality of those falls and fractures: Any one of them can be your last, robbing you of your independence and even your life.

I asked Dr. Mark Stengler about this study, and he said it’s more proof that mainstream doctors are absolutely clueless when it comes to treating pain — because there are much better options than dangerous and addictive drugs.

Your own answers to pain will depend on the cause, but Dr. Stengler suggests trying a natural supplement such as curcumin or MSM or a drug-free treatment like cold laser or acupuncture.

A naturopathic physician can help find the treatment that’ll work best for you — and keep you off the addictive meds that can ruin or even end your life.

Doctors looking to treat something as serious as heart attacks tend to fall back on their two best and potentially harmful friends—surgery and drugs.