Posted on 03/07/2024 1:30:02 PM PST by nickcarraway
Those creepy crawly critters pack a lot of protein and other nutritional benefits.
When it comes to increasing our protein intake, we often look to tried-and-true sources. But what if we told you there was another option? There's a tiny but mighty game changer that contains not only the protein you need to keep up your energy, but also fiber — an essential nutrient for your gut health.
Enter the world of entomophagy, or the practice of eating bugs!
While this concept may seem foreign, insects have been a staple in diets around the world for thousands if not millions of years, and they seem to be enjoying a resurgence. Along with the potential benefits to your gut, edible insects offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional protein production that could help address global food scarcity and cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a win-win situation (if you don’t mind eating bugs)!
Dive into the fascinating world of entomophagy (en-ta-MAH-fa-jee) as we unravel its rich history, explore the potential benefits, and share how you can join in on the fun.
What’s the Buzz? According to a study published in the journal Nature Food in 2023, more than two billion people currently live in places where entomophagy is common and has been for hundreds of years.
The waning of entomophagy in Western cultures over time could be due to a number of different factors. According to Katherine Amato, PhD, a biological anthropologist and an associate professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, geography, colonialism, and scientific advances may all have played a part.
Logically, geography is a big factor. There are fewer edible insects to be found in nontropical areas, so bugs were probably less essential for human survival in these places. And as colonialism became more widespread, eating insects was associated with Indigenous peoples and thus deemed inferior in cultures with Victorian influences, says Dr. Amato.
Advances in science could have also contributed to the shift away from entomophagy. As scientists began to understand what caused disease, insects were associated with bacteria and began to be seen as dirty. People may have avoided eating them to avoid getting sick.
“These scientific discoveries in bacteria were ultimately helpful in understanding how we could better control disease,” Amato says. “But they also kind of went too far in one direction, categorizing things as always bad and dirty when that’s not really how it works.”
The Benefits of Bugs
Ironically, it is now new strides in scientific research that are showing the potential benefits of edible insects for our gut health. The Nature Food study found that many bugs provide all the essential amino acids needed for human nutrition along with important vitamins and minerals, including folate, biotin, B12, potassium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
“As gross as it may sound, we truly have science behind it,” says Ekta Gupta, MBBS, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and the medical director at Knoll North Surgery Center in Columbia, Maryland. “A lot of these insects are actually okay to be consumed by human beings because they’re high in chitin, which is an insoluble fiber.”
According to Dr. Gupta, fiber acts as a fuel for the trillions of microbes living in your gut that aid in digestion, fermentation, and the absorption of nutrients. Fiber is a fuel for good bacteria and helps control dysbiosis, which is an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gut. Fiber, therefore, stabilizes the gut and reduces inflammation.
Chitin is the predominant type of fiber found in edible insects, according to the Nature Food study. It is the primary component of the exoskeleton, respiratory linings, and digestive systems of the insects. This is also true for other arthropods, including crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs, though because insects are usually eaten whole and crustaceans are not, there is only a menial amount of chitin, and thus fiber, in the edible portions of crustaceans.
Because of their close relation to crustaceans, Gupta urges those with food allergies to use caution when considering entomophagy. “Some individuals may be allergic to some of the insect proteins in chitin,” she says. “If they’ve never experienced it before or if they have gut sensitivity issues to begin with, they should keep that in mind.”
Edible insects can also be a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which help maintain a positive environment in the gut. Most people associate omega-3 fatty acids with cardiovascular health, but according to Amato, they are also thought to have anti-inflammatory properties and produce a barrier effect in the intestines that protects against leaky gut.
“The gut microbiome is a part of our physiology that we didn’t even know existed to the extent that we do now, as recently as 30 or 40 years ago,” Amato says. “These microbial communities outnumber our cells, the genes they have outnumber our genes, and the biomass of the microbiome is thought to be equivalent to the biomass of our brains. So, while we’re still trying to figure out the directionality of all this, it really seems like the gut and its microbes are central to righting our physiology.”
Big Picture Benefits
According to a study published in 2022, global food demand is projected to increase by more than 50 percent by the year 2050, making it a challenge for agricultural systems across the globe to keep up supply.
Enter entomophagy (again)!
It takes fewer resources to produce edible insects than it does to raise animals, and it leaves a significantly smaller carbon footprint. And eating bugs is not only good for the environment, but is beneficial to your personal health.
“Red meat consumption has been shown to increase the risk of colon cancer as well as many other cancers,” says Gupta. “If reducing our reliance on animal meat could help address environmental issues and reduce the consumption of red meat, then we should consider it.”
“We have to set up the systems to be able to do it effectively,” says Amato. “But it does seem like a really viable option that could help save land and resources.”
Count Me In-Sect! Around the world, various types of insects are available for consumption. Beetles are the most widely consumed globally, per the Nature Food study, followed by caterpillars, wasps, bees, ants, grasshoppers, crickets, true bugs, and termites. In the United States, however, your options are a bit more limited.
The most readily available edible insects in the States are crickets, which can be roasted, ground into powder, or incorporated into snacks like protein bars and cookies. You can find options all over the web from companies like Exo, EntoMarket, Cricket Flours, and even on Amazon. Crickets are said to have a nutty, slightly smoky flavor. Mealworms and black soldier fly larvae are also available in the United States. They usually come roasted and tossed in seasoning.
Bugging Out Not ready to board the entomophagy train? No worries! There are plenty of other high-fiber, high-protein foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and can boost your gut health, such as the following:
Almonds
Legumes
Chia seeds
Chickpeas
Fish
Walnuts
Quinoa
Man....f*ck dat sh*t.....
Well...if you need to throw up, yes...because that’s what the idea of eating bugs makes me feel like doing.
BRAIN Check...
Stock up on legumes and brown rice and ketchup. You’ll be eating like a king, compared to how everybody else will be eating.
Okay, let idiots eat bugs, maybe catch and eat cochroches in their houses, etc. I'll stick to bacon, steaks, and healthier choices.
Do I look like I care about a carbon footprint?
Throw on an extra steak.
I knew a man who was a POW. He told me when you get hungry enough, you will eat anything you can catch.
When I am THAT hungry, we can have this discussion. I imagine at my age, my guts will give out long before that happens.
Fried meal worms aren’t bad...
Fried meal worms may taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know, cuz I wouldn’t eat the filthy mofos.
I hope I never learn that.
I ate a chipmunk once. That’s as small as I think I will go.
Golly. If I was a suspicious person I would suspect the WEF goons paid for this important article about how great it is to eat bugs.
We will own everything and you better be happy, or at least silent, about it.
So are the leftists sharing this information with Africa? How about other famine and food starved people? Just think of the foreign aid that could be saved
No but bacon is;’-)
I don’t want to eat bugs, but I’m sure if we ate the bugs God told the Israelites to eat, we’d be fine.
Every species of anything has its own kaleidoscope of flora and fauna. A host of bacteria, viruses, prions and fungus. We have adapted to whatever lives in the food we eat. Now we’re venturing into territory we haven’t been into for probably hundreds of thousands of years. I wonder what new disease is just waiting to spread from beetles to humans.
dung beetles
We don’t need fiber. However, bugs could probably make a good protein supplement. Our bodies break protein down into amino acids and having the correct blend of amino acids to build muscle tissue is important. Depends on the specific insect but it looks like some (not ALL!) provide a balance close to what we need.
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