Polyunsaturated 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.
