doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129864engMedina-Lozano I.Bertolín J.R.Díaz Bermúdez A.Nutritional value of commercial and traditional lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and wild relatives: Vitamin C and anthocyanin contentART-2021-126148Lettuce 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.2021http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/15146610.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129864http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/151466oai:zaguan.unizar.es:151466info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA-FEDER/A12-17Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA-FEDER/A14-17R-GRUPO SAGASinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/LMP164-18info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/INIA/RTA2017-00093-00-00Food Chemistry 359 (2021), 129864 [11 pp.]by-nc-ndhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess