Nutritional Benefits of Insects

Graphic by Anna Daugherty via www.multimedianewsroom.us/

Talking about nutritional facts without completely bamboozling you is tricky as there are many different facts, figures and considerations when looking at the nutritional benefits of insects, but hopefully there is something below that is new to you!

Insects also known as mini livestock or land shrimps (as some are members of the Arthropod family along with Crustaceans) have highly variable nutritional value due to the wide variety of species as well as the metamorphic* stages of insects.  Other factors contributing to the  varying nutritional value of insects is, like many other food, how they are prepared, cooked or processed (for example insects are highest in protein when in dried form) and what the insect has been fed on (whether it be grain or organic waste).  Therefore many nutritional facts and figures you see may vary for this reason.  

There are approximately 1900 species of insects currently being consumed throughout the globe, however, this nutritional overview will concentrate on species most accessible in the West due to ease of farming, familiarity and origin.  Insects for human consumption are currently being farmed in the Netherlands and these include mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers and buffalo worms.

The main nutritional benefits of insects are dietary energy, proteins, fatty acids, fibres, minerals and vitamins.  

Proteins
As  I'm sure you know, Proteins are essential nutrients for body growth and maintenance.  The table below comes from the Food and Agriculture Organisation report on the nutrition of edible insects and shows the comparison of protein per 100g with other meat and fish.  The chart shows that grasshoppers have a very similar protein content to fish and beef.

To make the comparison even easier to see, ediblebugfarm.com have produced this chart and I think you'll agree that crickets, grasshoppers and mealworms are very comparable to beef. 



Vitamins
Finke (2013) carried out studies, focusing on insects used to feed insectivores, also comparing the nutritional content such as protein, fat, dietary energy and vitamins of certain insects with other food sources and this is shown in the table below.  (Thiamin = vitamin B1 / Riboflavin = vitamin B2).  

As shown above Vitamin B1 and Vitamin B2 are two vitamins Finke has assessed and it is worth noting that these insects have been fasted and frozen rather than dried.  The chart shows the house fly to be very high in vitamin B1 and B2.  How many of you would be keen to sprinkle a few flies on your soup?

Vitamin B1 Comparison
Dried:  0.04 to 1.13 mg per 100g
Frozen:  0.1 to 0.4 mg per 100g 

Many other Vitamins Bs are present in these insects although Vitamin B12 (in food of animal origin) is found in mealworm larvae and house crickets but this is low in many other species.  

Many edible insects are an excellent source of iron have equal or higher contents of iron than beef.  The Food and Agriculture Organisation have the following figures for you to sink your teeth into!  (sorry!)  Other minerals include Zinc, calcium and Magnesium.

Iron Content of dry weight
Beef  6 mg per 100 g
Mopane Capterpillar 31–77 mg per 100 g

ediblebugfarm.com have also produced this wonderful chart to show you exactly how much goodness can be found in these tasty little fellas.




Fats
The good fats!  Edible insects are a considerable source of fat and their oils are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and essential linoleic and α-linolenic acids.  Many insects also contain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and the FAO have stated that insects could play an important role in by supplying these essential fatty acids.

I think you'll agree that from a nutritional glance that those insects that are available to us stand up pretty well against beef.  They are full of the good stuff and have less of the bad.  Will they become the next health food?
Well, they kind of already have!  Eat Grub  are just one of the companies that are making these accessible to people in the UK and Eat Grub have started selling there goodies to Planet Organic.  I will be posting about their products on the blog post very soon!

Although this is a brief overview of a complex subject, I hope you've found some useful information.  Why eat cheap meat that is not healthy when you can eat a mini herd of micro livestock?!

Further details about nutritional content can be found in the FAO report entitled 'Nutritional Value of Edible Insects for Human Consumption' on the 'References' page.

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* Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation.

Finke, Mark D. "Complete nutrient content of four species of feeder insects."Zoo biology 32.1 (2013): 27-36.