Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound and significant constituent of Curcuma longa , possesses diverse pharmacologic effects and is a promising natural product at the forefront of therapeutic agents for treating human diseases. Quality testing of turmeric powder, a major source of color and taste in many cuisines, is an immediate need because of many reports of selling fake and adulterated turmeric powder in the market. This research aims to develop a curcumin quantification method using HPLC in fresh powder from rhizomes and commercial turmeric powder. In this work, a simple and new HPLC method for detecting and quantifying curcuminoids is developed, and the curcumin content in 23 fresh powder samples from rhizome samples from different geographical locations in Gandaki Province, Nepal, and 10 commercial samples from the Nepali market were estimated. The highest concentration of curcumin, up to 13.95% (w/w), was found in fresh turmeric rhizomes. In comparison, the curcumin level of the commercial powder varied between 1.5% and 2.1% (w/w), which revealed that commercial turmeric powder has a very low level of curcumin. This optimized method is simple, selective, and compatible, quantifying curcumin with an excellent resolution of peaks within 6 min, and will be a valuable resource for researchers to quantify curcumin in turmeric and its products.
Paudel et al. (2025) studied this question.