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Nutritional and toxic factors in selected wild edible plants

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Abstract

Nutritional (ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid and carotenes); antinutritional and toxic components (oxalic acid, nitrate and erucic acid) were determined in sixteen popular species of wild edible plants which are collected for human consumption in southeast Spain. Ascorbic+dehydroascorbic acids contents were very high in several species, especially in Chenopodium album L. (155 mg/100 g). Carotenoid content ranged from 4.2 mg/100 g (Stellaria media Villars) to 15.4 mg/100 g (Amaranthus viridis L.). A range of values was found for oxalic acid from absence to 1100 mg/100 g of plant material. Nitrate contents ranged from 47 mg/100 g ( Salicornia europaea L.) to 597 mg/100 g (Amaranthus viridis L.). Low amounts of erucic acid were found in the Cruciferae family (Sisymbrium irio L. 1.73%; Cardaria draba L. 1.23%) and Plantago major L. 3.45%.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Spain

    J. L. Guil

  2. Departamento de Química Ovgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Almería, 04120, Almería, Spain

    I. Rodríguez-Garcí

  3. Departamento de Nutrición y Bromatología II, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria S/N, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    E. Torija

Authors
  1. J. L. Guil
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  2. I. Rodríguez-Garcí
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  3. E. Torija
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Guil, J.L., Rodríguez-Garcí, I. & Torija, E. Nutritional and toxic factors in selected wild edible plants. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 51, 99–107 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007988815888

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