The purpose of this study was to establish valerenic acid as a marker compound for the standardization of ethanol extract of Valerinan officinalis (valerian) root as a functional health food. We established valerenic acid as a marker compound using HPLC. HPLC was used to quantify the marker compound in the valerian extract after validation of methods with linearity, accuracy, and precision. The specificity for retention time was met by comparative analysis of the valerian extract and standard compound using HPLC. The method showed high linearity of the calibration curve with a coefficient of correlation (R2) of 0.9999. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 10 μg/mL. The accuracy of measurement was 99.88~ 00.68% and the relative standard deviation (RSD) value was 0.59%. In addition, our analytical method yielded a 29% mean content of valerenic acid in the valerian ethanol extract. These results indicate that the established HPLC method facilitated the determination of marker compounds in the valerian extract for the standardization of health functional foods. Key words: Valerinan officinalis, valerenic acid, HPLC, validation, functional health food