Effects of purchase source (local fresh or main food markets) on the vitamin C and provitamin A carotenoids contents of some horticultural foods

Selecting a group of ten food products that are part of the Bogota population diet, we evaluated whether the concentration of vitamin C and provitamin A carotenoids was affected by the horticultural food and the type of sample (bought local fresh, LF, or in main food markets, MFM), and if culinary procedures affected those contents. Such contents were evaluated by RP-(U)-HPLC. Strawberry (60.4/56.6, LF/MFM), orange (56.7/55.5, LF/MFM), and mango (46.1/66.1, LF/MFM) were the main sources of vitamin C (all as mg/100 g FW). Carrot, either raw (4,780/2,755) or cooked (4,740/2,420), and mango (448.4/1,697) had the greatest provitamin A carotenoid contents (all as mu g retinol equivalents/100 g FW). While cooking of carrots depleted the content of carotenoids, peeling of boiled potato tubers did not affect the vitamin C content. The horticultural food and the type of sample defined the nutrient contents. Our results might contribute to good food consumption practices. Novelty impact statement This research shows that the contents of vitamin C and provitamin A carotenoids are influenced not only by the horticultural food product but also by where such food products are purchased, which in this research we have denoted as local fresh and main food market. This fact must be further investigated and shows that commercialization affects (positively or negatively) the nutritional quality of horticultural food products. Our findings should also be considered in governmental programs dedicated to ameliorate the nutritional state of a population, especially when the access to food products is limited and therefore what reaches the consumer must be of the greatest nutritional quality.