I am sure you already know that insects are a very good source of protein, often better than meat. And I am sure that this means nothing to you (if you are a westerner) and you would probably never touch a dish full of crickets, unless you really starved to death or something. And I am sure that after reading this post you will still not be interested!
So, according to the introduction of a new report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization the "interest in the consumption of insects (entomophagy) as an alternative environmentally sustainable source of protein in the diet of humans has recently witnessed a surge. "! [1]
Have I missed something? Are westerners really thinking of switching beef to crickets to save the environment or something? Well, I don't know about you but I am not changing my diet any time soon. I love my meat. I know, I am a piece of shit.
(memes get not credit)
So, back to the study. As of today, it was well established that insects are a good source of protein but we knew very little about the bio-availability of other nutrients. In this study, the researchers set out to examine how the availability of of various minerals in four commonly eaten insects compares to sirloin beef.
"This study evaluated the availability of Fe, Ca, Cu, Mg, Mn and Zn from four commonly eaten insects and compared these to sirloin beef. Soluble iron from the samples was measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Iron bioavailability was determined using an in vitro simulated peptic-pancreatic digestion, followed by measurement of ferritin (a surrogate marker for 10 iron absorption) in Caco-2 cells." [1]
Wonder what they found? It turns out that crickets had the highest levels of iron and its actually much better absorbed by the human body than beef.
Iron-deficiency? Eat a cricket! (credit)
As for other minerals, like calcium, copper and zinc the critters fared quite well, as they appeared to be equal or even better, in regards to bio availability when compared to beef.
In most cases, mineral solubility was higher from the four insect species than found in sirloin. In general, grasshopper, cricket, mealworms and buffalo worms would provide significant levels of soluble minerals than sirloin in the diet. [1]
Overall, the researchers concluded that eating critters is good for you! I am sure people from China, Thailand and other countries where they eat insects are not surprised!
Insects could provide significant proportions of daily recommendations of minerals and in particular, be excellent sources of bioavailable iron in the diets depending on the insect species. [1]
So, what do you think? Are you ready to try one of these guys?
(credit)
References & Further Reading
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