Research Aims to Boost Lettuce Nutrient Content
May 20, 2020 
Researchers in California are hoping to improve the next generation of lettuce varieties by making them higher in such important nutrients as vitamin C, antioxidants, and beta carotene. These improvements in the nutritional value of lettuce could make a huge difference, researchers say, because people are not likely to begin eating enough vegetables any time soon.
“Nobody eats enough fruits and vegetables, and that is worldwide,” said David Still, Director of the Agricultural Research Institute at Cal Poly Pomona, in an article published by the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF). “We eat so much lettuce, it is a major source of nutrients in U.S. diets. People will not change their diets. People don’t eat much spinach or broccoli, but we can change the nutrients in lettuce.”
Still made his remarks during the Future of Lettuce Symposium, an event put together by the University of California, Davis’ Genes to Growers project that featured presentations by university, USDA, and other agricultural researchers.
The event was originally scheduled for mid-March in San Luis Obispo County, but was moved to a video conference to avoid a large social gathering.
Though most vegetable crop breeding focuses on yield and pest or disease resistance, much of the research presented at the symposium aimed at breeding lettuce that contains more nutrients or lasts longer after harvest.
Read more in the complete CFBF article here.
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