Edible insects exert a high potential renal acid load to the human kidneys

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe potential renal acid load (PRAL) describes the capacity of a food to produce acid or base in the human body. The long-term consumption of high-PRAL diets induces a chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis state that has been associated with inflammation and impaired kidney function. PRAL tables are available to help individuals in selecting low-PRAL foods. However, these tables do not cover novel or uncommon foods in Western societies. Entomophagy – the practice of eating insects is an emerging trend in the Western world with unclear health consequences from an acid-base perspective. Here, we hypothesized that the consumption of insects is associated with a high PRAL, and analyzed the PRAL values of n = 39 commonly consumed edible insects. Our results suggest that the majority of edible insects have very high PRAL values (of up to 43.62 mEq/100 g), indicating strong acidifying properties and likely resulting in acid retention. PRAL values of edible insects rank well above the PRAL values of other high-protein foods, including legumes, pork and beef. PRAL was moderately correlated with the protein content (r = 0.42) and phosphorus content (r = 0.50) of the examined edible insects. Our data point to a potential health concern when regularly consuming edible insects.