문경학 (써모피셔사이언티픽)

문경학 (써모피셔사이언티픽)

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), a representative functional material with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, is generally evaluated by curcuminoid content. However, quality assessment relying solely on specific markers may not fully reflect metabolite variations driven by cultivation environments and geographic origins. This study compared the metabolite profiles of three commercial turmeric products from India and Korea, respectively, using non-targeted metabolomics via a Vanquish HPLC system coupled with an Orbitrap Exploris 120 mass spectrometer to explore origin-specific metabolites. The results demonstrated differences in overall metabolite profiles between the origins. Indian turmeric exhibited higher relative abundances of curcumin, bis-desmethoxycurcumin, and turmeronol A, whereas choline was identified with a relatively higher abundance in Korean turmeric. These findings confirmed that turmeric’s functional metabolite composition varies by origin and that Korean turmeric possesses unique metabolic traits inadequately evaluated by curcumin content alone. Furthermore, this study suggested the potential to comprehensively evaluate natural product quality and functionality based on whole metabolite profiles rather than a single marker. Finally, it was confirmed that Orbitrap-based high-resolution non-targeted metabolomics can serve as an effective analytical platform for origin discrimination and biomarker discovery.