(Healthline - 6 May 2021)
Entomophagy, or eating insects, is a practice that dates back to prehistoric times. Crickets are one of the most common insects people consume. Products containing cricket protein have grown in popularity due to consumer demand for more sustainable protein options.
Insects like crickets are rich in nutrients, especially protein, and may be more sustainable than other protein sources, such as beef.
However, some people aren’t comfortable eating crickets because they’re concerned about food safety.
This article explains the benefits and potential risks of using crickets as a food source.
Benefits to eating crickets
There are a number of benefits to eating crickets.
Crickets may offer health benefits and provide a more sustainable and environmentally friendly source of protein than other animal-based protein sources.
Crickets are rich in protein
The main reason people use crickets as a food source is that they’re rich in many nutrients, especially protein. In fact, one 2020 review found that most edible crickets have a higher protein content than more common animal-based protein sources, such as goat, chicken, and pork.
The review found that the body can digest a slightly lower proportion of the protein from crickets than from eggs, milk, or beef. However, it also showed that the body digested cricket protein better than popular plant-based sources of protein, such as rice and corn.
Crickets have a hard exoskeleton that contains chitin, a type of insoluble fiber that’s hard to digest. This is why cricket protein digestibility varies. When the exoskeleton is removed, the digestibility of protein from crickets increases dramatically.
Studies show that cricket protein powder contains about 65.5% protein and adult crickets provide 13.2–20.3 grams of protein per 100-gram serving. Interestingly, some species of cricket are complete protein sources, meaning they contain all nine essential amino acids in ideal proportions. Others are incomplete sources of protein due to their low levels of amino acids like tryptophan and lysine. As long as your diet contains multiple sources of protein, you don’t need to be overly concerned with getting adequate amounts of amino acids, because they are available in many foods.
Regardless, crickets are rich in protein. Therefore, cricket-based products, like protein powders and protein bars, would benefit you if you’re looking to increase your daily protein intake.
Crickets are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber
In addition to protein, crickets are high in many other nutrients, including fat, calcium, potassium, zinc, magnesium, copper, folate, biotin, pantothenic acid, and iron.
One study found that the iron content of crickets was 180% higher than that of beef. Plus, the crickets were higher in calcium and the B vitamin riboflavin than meat products like chicken, pork, and beef.
What’s more, crickets are a rich source of fiber, a nutrient that other sources of animal protein lack. Studies show that the fiber content of crickets can be as high as 13.4% in a 100-gram serving.
Additionally, crickets provide fat, mostly in the form of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Studies have linked these to health benefits, including improvements in risk factors for heart disease.
Environmentally friendly protein alternative
Farming insects such as crickets for food may be more sustainable and environmentally friendly than raising animals such as chicken, pigs, and cattle. For example, one study found that broiler chickens were associated with 89% higher greenhouse gas emissions than crickets, per unit of edible protein produced.
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), livestock account for 14.5% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing your red meat intake and replacing it with more sustainable options like insect or plant protein is a smart way to help the environment. Insect farming could also help reduce food waste if farmers choose to feed food waste to their insects.
Including insects as part of the diet may help industrialized countries create a more sustainable food system and make a dent in greenhouse gas emissions.
May benefit gut health
Some research suggests that chitin, the insoluble fiber found in crickets, may be beneficial for gut health. Chitin may act as a prebiotic, promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.
A small 2018 study that included 20 healthy people found that consuming 25 grams of whole cricket powder per day for 2 weeks led to increased growth of beneficial gut bacteria and reduced inflammatory markers. In the study, Bifidobacterium animalis, a beneficial strain of gut bacteria, increased by 5.7 times.
At the same time, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), which is linked to inflammatory gut conditions, was reduced in people who consumed cricket powder compared with people who ate a control diet
These findings suggest that eating crickets may benefit gut health. However, research is limited at this time, and scientists need to do more studies to fully understand how consuming crickets may affect gut health.
[The above is a partial extract of an original article. For the full article, please visit here.]
