Nutritional value of commercial and traditional lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and wild relatives: vitamin C and anthocyanin content
Date
2021
Authors
Medina Lozano, InésBertolín Pardos, Juan Ramón
Díaz Bermúdez, Aurora
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Abstract
Lettuce is the most consumed leafy vegetable though the most popular varieties have a low nutritional value. Our objective was to accurately quantify vitamin C and anthocyanins in wild relatives, and commercial and traditional varieties. Wild species and traditional varieties contained more total ascorbic acid (TAA) than commercial varieties (21% and 8%, respectively). In contrast, commercial varieties had significantly higher content of anthocyanins than traditional varieties and wild species (6 and 8 times more, respectively). TAA was significantly higher in green than in red lettuces (18%). TAA was also significantly higher in the leaves of two wild species than in stems. Cyanidin 3-O-(6'-O-malonylglucoside) was the most abundant anthocyanin (97%), present in most samples. The rankings of accessions by vitamin C and anthocyanin contents can be useful for consumers worried about the impacts of food on their wellbeing and for breeders aiming to improve lettuce by biofortification with health-promoting compounds.
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Bibliographic citation
Food Chemistry, num. 359, (2021)
AGROVOC subjects
Lactuca sativaEspecies silvestres afín a las plantas cultivadas
Germoplasma
Valor nutritivo