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Substantial studies have shown that curcumin, a dietary compound from turmeric, has beneficial effects on many diseases. However, curcumin rapidly degrades at physiological pH, making it difficult to interpret whether the observed actions of curcumin are from curcumin itself or its degradation products. Therefore, it is important to better understand the mechanisms involved in curcumin degradation and the roles of degradation in its biological actions.

Here, we show that a series of redox active antioxidants with diverse chemical structures, including gallic acid, ascorbate (vitamin C), tert‐butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, and Trolox (a water‐soluble analog of vitamin E), dramatically increased curcumin stability in phosphate buffer at physiological pH. When treated in basal cell culture medium in MC38 colon cancer cells, curcumin rapidly degraded with a half‐life …