Studies on the stability of turmeric constituents Original Research Article

In order to investigate the stability of curcuminoids in physiological media, two samples with different composition of curcumin (CUR I), mono-demethoxycurcumin (CUR II) and bis-demethoxycurcumin (CUR III) were incubated in phosphate buffer and cell culture medium without or with fetal calf serum. The curcuminoids decomposed very rapidly (more than 90% within 12 h) when serum was omitted, but were more stable in the presence of serum. The stability differed between the curcuminoids: CUR I was the least, and CUR III was the most stable curcuminoid. Several degradation products of CUR I were detected, most of which were not yet identified; ferulic acid and vanillin were disclosed as minor products.