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Is There Any Health Benefits of Edible Insects? (The Pros and Cons)

It seems that none of you have ever thought about eating insect. But in fact, some kinds of insect such as grasshoppers, red ant, cricket, and some kinds of caterpillar are edible.

The edible insects are not merely edible, but also nutritious. They contribute high value of nutrients, as they provide health benefits of edible insects.

The Nutritional Information on Edible Insect

The health benefits of edible insects are mainly contributed by the superior nutrition in the. Here is the nutritional information commonly contained by the insects.

  • Protein
  • Fats
  • Carbohydrate
  • Iron
  • Calcium
  • Phosphorus

There are many more nutrients contained in edible insects. The list above is just some of the dominant nutrient we can get by consuming edible insects.

The Health Benefits of Edible Insects

By looking at the list of nutritional information on edible insects, we can ensure the health benefits of edible insects. Here are some of the health benefits we can get from consuming edible insects such as the grasshopper, cricket, and many more.

  1. Increase muscle mass

Some of you might worry about eating insects as insects sometimes associated with uncleanliness. But don’t worry. Some insects are edible for many reasons such as low toxicity and proper cleanliness issue.  In addition to it, higher protein content on insects is effective to increase muscle mass.

As we know, people who tend to improve their muscle mass go into high protein diet. This is the reason they consume a protein bar and high protein shakes, also dark chocolate, for its Benefits of Dark Chocolate for Body Building.

  1. Improve performance

Protein in edible insects such as bees and wasps is not only good at gaining muscle mass. It is also very good to improve performance and endurance. It is because protein is one of the most important energy sources to improve your physical performance.

  1. Aid in weight loss

If you are in a program to maintain or reduce your weight, it is important to consider edible insects in your diet. It is because the high protein, added with healthy fats and low carbohydrate in insects is considered to be healthier compared to the other protein source such as meat.

The health benefits of edible insect to aid weight loss is also supported by a report by FAO as it suggests that entomophagy or the act of eating edible insects may be effective to lose weight and also combat obesity.

  1. Combat malnutrition

Malnutrition is still being a problem in some developing countries. In this case, eating edible insects can give the solution.it is because edible insects are able to provide beneficial nutrients in very low budget. As we know, malnutrition case strongly related to economical issues.

Therefore, a nutrient dense food in low budget such as edible insect can be a perfect solution, as the nutrients provided by edible insect are comparable to the Health Benefits of Meat, Poultry and Fish.

  1. Improve hemoglobin production

The most dominant nutrients in insect might be protein and mineral, especially iron. As we know, protein and iron form a very powerful duet to from hemoglobin. The sufficient hemoglobin will allow our body to have better metabolism system.

Further, the consumption of edible insect can contribute to health benefits of edible insect for anemia, as it may prevent anemia. It is similar to Benefits of Eggplant for Anemia as the potential source of iron.

  1. Improve immunity

Iron is known to be effective to improve immunity. In this case, we can fulfill our need of iron from the Health Benefits Of Eating Insects.

Cricket is known to be an insect with very high level of iron. The content of iron in cricket is found to be higher than the iron contained by sirloin beef. Therefore, if you believe in Health Benefits of Sirloin Steak the whole life, you might need to think twice, now.

Precautions of Consuming Edible Insects

Despite the health benefits of edible insects, we should also aware of the precautions. Well, the health value in edible insect might not be applicable for some of you, as consuming insects may have high risk of allergy. We know that high protein food might be risky in term of allergy, such as eggs, nuts, and milk.

A study found insect to have the same possibility in trigger allergic reaction just like when you have allergy over shrimp and shellfish.

The other issue is already mentioned above; it is about the cleanliness and bacterial infection. It relates to the habitat and feed. Many insects feed rotting food, animal corpse, and rubbish which is full of bacteria. Therefore, it might be risky, and you have to be aware of Symptoms of Streptococcus Bacteria Infections.

Recommendation for Consuming Edible Insect

To maintain the safety of consuming edible insects, it is important for you to keep the following points. First, make sure the source of the insect is good. The second, never eats raw insect, as it is possibly being toxic. Cook it properly according to the recommended cooking instruction.

You also need to be very careful if you are allergic to shellfish, as the protein in shellfish is considered to be similar to insects. And the most important thing is not eating just any kind of bugs. The toxin might be lethal.