Abstract
A new global interest in entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, and invertebrates, arise from the impellent necessity of preserving agriculture resources and to obtain a drastic reduction of the ecological impact of animal food on the planet. The composite nutritional content, direct consequences of a plant-based feeding, associated with the undoubtedly ecological properties, suggest for insects a role as sustainable and functional foods. We aim to investigate the ability of water and liposoluble extracts, obtained by 12 commercially available edible insects and two invertebrates, to display an antioxidant effect in vitro. Results show that water-soluble extracts of grasshoppers, silkworm, and crickets display the highest values of antioxidant capacity (TEAC), 5-fold higher than fresh orange juice, while evening cicada, giant water bugs, Thai zebra tarantula, and black scorpions have negligible values. Grasshoppers, African caterpillars, and crickets have the highest levels of reducing power (FRAP), double than fresh orange juice. Grasshoppers, black ants, and mealworms contain the highest levels of total polyphenols, while Thai zebra tarantula, black scorpions, and giant water bugs are positioned at the bottom of the ranking. The liposoluble fraction of silkworm, evening cicada, and African caterpillars shows highest level of TEAC, twice than olive oil, while Thai zebra tarantula, palm worm, and black ants are placed at the bottom of the ranking. Edible insects and invertebrates represent a potential source of antioxidant ingredients with an efficiency related to their taxonomy and eating habits. More evidences are needed in order to understand if the practice of eating insects and invertebrates might contribute to modulate oxidative stress in humans.
Highlights
Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects and invertebrates, has accompanied the human history through the centuries, playing a significant role in cultural and religious practices [1,2,3]
In the second group of antioxidant activity we found African caterpillars (1.43 ± 0.11), mealworms (0.89 ± 0.09), mini crickets (0.85 ± 0.09), buffalo worms (0.82 ± 0.07), scolopendra (0.78 ± 0.04), black ants (0.57 ± 0.04), FIGURE 1 | Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) of water-soluble extracts of edible insects, invertebrates and fresh orange juice
For what concerns the values of reducing power of water-soluble extracts, grasshoppers (2.12 ± 0.22), African caterpillars (1.88 ± 0.02), and cricket (1.81 ± 0.06) display the highest Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) values, about 2-fold higher than orange juice (0.94 ± 0.01) (Figure 2)
Summary
Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects and invertebrates, has accompanied the human history through the centuries, playing a significant role in cultural and religious practices [1,2,3]. A new global interest in edible insects and invertebrates arise from the impellent necessity of preserving agriculture resources to feed the nine billion world’s population predicted for 2050 and to obtain a drastic reduction of the ecological impact of meat and derivatives on the planet [5, 6]. In this view, livestock production is responsible of about 14.5% of total human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) [7], one of the main factors inducing climate changes. Under a nutritional point of view, insects and invertebrates represent a good source of bioavailable high-quality proteins and essential amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals such as iron, zinc, and potassium, B vitamins, and insoluble fiber, as chitin [4]
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