Eating crickets may improve gut health Alternate food sources

: Eating crickets may improve gut health

August 20, 2018

Alternative food sources

long time ago in 1975 when I was still in medical school my elder brother had sent me some reprints from Scientific American one of them was to do with alternative food sources.

one article mentioned about capybara predicting it may become a large alternative food source .but for Columbia it has not become popular.

The world's largest rodent, the capybara, eats grasses and aquatic plants in the rainforests of South America, which are also home to agoutis, rodents that feed on fallen fruits and nuts. A keen auditory sense allows agoutis to hear fruit hitting the ground; sharp incisor teeth make them the only animals capable of opening Brazilian nuts. Acouchis, which are related to agoutis, feed on grass, roots, stems, leaves and fruit. They occur in the rainforests of Colombia, Ecuador,

Yeast, fungi, bacteria, and algae are grown on hydrocarbon wastes, and cells are harvested as sources of protein. It has been calculated that 100 lbs of yeast will produce 250 tons of  proteins in 24 hours, whereas a 1000 lbs steer will synthesize only 1 lb of protein 24 hours.and this after consuming 12 to 20 lbs of plant proteins. Similar, algae grown in ponds can produce 20 tons (dry weight) of protein, per acre, per year This yield is 10 to 15 times higher than soybean and 25 to 50 times higher than corn. Thereare both advantages and disadvantages in using microorganisms for animal or humanconsumption. Bacteria are usually high in protein (50 to 80 percent) and have a rapid growthrate. The principal disadvantages are as follows:1. Bacterial cells have small size and low density, which makes harvesting from thefermented medium difficult and costly.2. Bacterial cells have high nucleic acid content relative to yeast and fungi This can bedetrimental to human beings, tending to increase the uric acid level in blood. This maycause uric acid poising or gout. To decrease the nucleic acid level additional processingstep has to be introduced, and this increases the cost.3. The general public thinking is that all bacteria are harmful and produce disease. Anextensive education programme is required to remove this misconception and to make the public accept bacterial protein.Yeasts have as advantages their larger size (easier to harvest), lower nucleic add content,high lysine content and ability to grow at acid pH. However the most important advantage isfamiliarity and acceptability because of the long history of its use in traditionalfermentations. Disadvantages include lower growth rates, lower protein content (45 to 65 per cent), and lower

methionine content than in bacteria.Filamentous fungi have advantages in ease of harvesting, but have their limitations in lower growth rates, lower protein content, and acceptability. Algae have disadvantages of havingcellulosic cell walls which are not digested by human beings. Secondly, they also concentrateheavy metals.Single cell protein basically comprises proteins, fats carbohydrates, ash ingredients, water,and other elements such as phosphorus and Potassium. The composition depends upon theorganism and the substrate which it grows. Some typical compositions which are comparedwith soymeal and fish meal. If SCP is to be used successfully, there are five main criteria to be satisfied;1. The SCP must be safe to eat.2. The nutritional value dependent on the amino acid composition must be high.3. It must be acceptable to the general public.4. It must have the functionality, i.e. characteristics, which are found in common staplefoods.5. The economic viability of the SCP process is extremely complex and is yet to bedemonstrated

Valerie Stull

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The crunch of an insect might bring about visions of stepping on a water bug or cockroach as you walk down the street. But, what about a crunch that is associated with snacking on insects?

For most, the idea of sitting down to take a bite out of a grasshopper or cricket seems unappetizing. But for Valerie J. Stull, PhD, MPH, a post-doctoral research fellow at University of Wisconsin-Madison, the idea is not as ludicrous as some might think.

Stull and colleagues published a study in Scientific Report that assessed the safety, tolerability and effects that consuming crickets had on 20 healthy men and women aged 18 to 48 years.

Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease spoke with Stull about how the study came about, its results, and how eating crickets might develop good gut bacteria. – by Ryan McDonald

Healio: How did this study come about?

Stull: I have a background in public health and nutrition, but I’ve also always been interested in sustainable agriculture and how food impacts the environment. In the last 5 years, I’ve been researching entomophagy, which is the practice of eating insects. Edible insects are fascinating because although humans have consumed insects throughout history, and approximately 2 billion people around the globe regularly consume them today, research on the subject is relatively new.

Eating crickets might help promote beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Source: Adobe Stock.

Like many edible insects, crickets are considered an environmentally friendly protein source. They require significantly less feed, land, and water to survive and thrive than traditional livestock, while also emitting fewer greenhouse gases. Crickets like tight confined spaces, so farming them vertically makes sense. We have good data on the nutritional content of many edible insects, including crickets. Most are very high in protein and other nutrients. But what many people don’t know is that insects also contain fiber, unlike other animal products like beef, chicken, or eggs.

My colleagues and I set out to investigate if edible crickets have any beneficial health impacts beyond their nutritional content. Remember that fiber is not digested by humans directly. Instead, it passes through undigested or is broken down by the microbes in our gut. The microbiota in our gut and their products go on to impact our health in a variety of ways. Dietary fiber can shape microbial growth, and fiber consumption has been shown to contribute to the health of our digestive system. High fiber intake has been associated with a reduced risk of several diseases including breast cancer, diverticular disease and coronary heart disease.

The purpose of the study was threefold. We wanted to confirm that cricket consumption was safe and tolerable. Considering people eat crickets around the world, we expected this to be true, but wanted to verify it clinically. We also wanted to see if eating edible crickets influenced human health directly by changing lipid metabolism or markers of inflammation. Lastly, we were interested in assessing if insect fibers, such as chitin – the primary component of the exoskeleton – could serve as prebiotics. By prebiotics, I mean non-digestible food items that promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. Live probiotic bacteria, yogurt for example, eat prebiotics and are known to do good things for the body. Ultimately, we wanted to know if eating crickets was good for gut health.

Healio: How did you and your colleagues conduct the study?

Stull: We set up a double-blind, randomized, crossover clinical trial to evaluate what effects consuming 25 g of whole cricket powder per day had on gut microbiota composition, while also assessing safety and tolerability. A total of 20 healthy adults participated in a six-week dietary intervention. Participants were randomized into two study arms and consumed either cricket-containing or control breakfast foods for 14 days, followed by a washout period and assignment to the opposite treatment. Blood and stool samples were collected at baseline and after each treatment period to assess changes in blood chemistry, liver function, and shifts in microbiota.

Healio: What made you and your colleagues use crickets and not another insect?

Stull: Food-grade crickets are produced commercially in North America, so as far as edible insects go, crickets are readily accessible here. We were able to access a whole cricket powder that could be integrated easily into breakfast foods for our study participants to eat.

Sometimes people in the edible insect world joke that crickets are the ‘gateway bug.’ They are familiar to Americans, but not detested like some other insects. They are kind of cute, but not too cute. When dried or fried, crickets are crunchy and tasty, and they easily take up the flavors of what is around them. Crickets were a good starting point for research on the health impacts of eating edible insects.

Healio: What were the main findings from the study?

Stull: Ultimately, our small clinical trial had a few interesting findings. First, we didn’t see any sign of toxicity or intolerability for study participants after eating crickets, which is good news. Second, we didn’t see changes in lipid metabolism, but we did observe a slight increase in alkaline phosphatase and a decrease in circulating pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha with cricket consumption. These results are suggestive of an improvement in intestinal homeostasis, meaning that eating crickets may improve gut health and reduce systemic inflammation; however, more research is needed to understand these effects and underlying mechanisms.

We also observed several changes in microbiota after eating cricket powder, including a prebiotic effect. Specifically, after eating crickets, we measured a significant increase in the abundance of one good bacterial species, the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis. B. animalis has been studied extensively and is known to inhibit pathogens, improve gastrointestinal function, and protect against diarrhea and food bore pathogens.