Morales, PatriciaFerreira, Isabel C.F.R.Carvalho, Ana MariaSánchez Mata, María de CortésCámara Hurtado, MontañaTardío, Javier2012-08-212012-08-212012Morales, Patricia; Ferreira, Isabel C.F.R.; Carvalho, Ana Maria; Sánchez-Mata, Mª Cortes; Cámara, Montaña; Tardío, Javier (2012). Fatty acids profiles of some Spanish wild vegetables. Food Science and Technology International. ISSN 1082-0132. 18:3, p. 281-2901082-0132http://hdl.handle.net/10198/7373Polyunsaturated fatty acids play an important role in human nutrition, being associated with several health benefits. The analyzed vegetables, in spite of his low fat content, lower than 2 %, presents a high proportion of PUFA of n-3, n-6 and n-9 series, such as α-linolenic, linoleic, and oleic acids, respectively. Wild edible plants contain in general a good balance of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids. The present study tries to contribute to the preservation and valorization of traditional food resources, studying the fatty acids profile of twenty wild vegetables by GC-FID. Results show that species in which leaves are predominant in their edible parts have in general the highest PUFA/SFA ratios: Rumex pulcher (5.44), Cichorium intybus (5.14) and Papaver rhoeas (5.00). Due to the low n-6/n-3 ratios of the majority of the samples, they can be considered interesting sources of n-3 fatty acids, especially those with higher total fat amount, such as Bryonia dioica, Chondrilla juncea or Montia fontana, with the highest contents of α-linolenic acid (67.78, 56.27 and 47.65%, respectively). The wild asparaguses of Asparagus acutifolius and Tamus communis stand out for their linoleic acid content (42.29 and 42.45%, respectively). All these features reinforce the interest of including wild plants in diet, as an alternative to the variety of vegetables normally used.engWild edible vegetablesFatty acidsGas-ChromatographyNutritional parametersjournal article10.1177/1082013211427798