Eating bugs may seem like something they do at Special Forces training, but now the creepy crawlies may be considered a superfood.
It might be hard to stomach the idea of eating bugs in the United States, but plenty of other cultures eat insects as a regular part of their diet. Bugs have been shown to be rich in protein and good for your gut’s microbiome, and now new research indicates they may also be high in antioxidants.
Bugs beat oranges
For the new study, researchers looked at the nutrition of 12 types of insects and two invertebrates. After removing any inedible body parts, such as the stingers on scorpions or the wings on crickets, the scientists divided them into either fat-soluble content or water-soluble content. They then tested the parts of each kind of insect to measure the antioxidant level.
Surprisingly, the team found that some insects had more antioxidants than oranges and other healthy foods! Water-soluble extracts rickets, silkworms and grasshoppers, for example have five times as much antioxidant power as fresh orange juice. Likewise, fat-soluble parts from African caterpillars, silkworms and evening cicadas have twice the antioxidant power as olive oil.
They also found that the invertebrate bugs that strictly eat plants—including the mealworms, black ants and grasshoppers‑contain the most total antioxidants.
But forget about giant water bugs, black scorpions and Thai zebra tarantulas, which offer little in the way of antioxidants.
Don’t chomp down yet
The researchers caution that no one should give up a healthy diet in exchange for bugs quite yet. Insects still need to be tested for safety and bioavailability (the effectiveness once it enters your body).
But if future tests go well, bugs could serve an important role in feeding humans, especially in places where food is scarce.
The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.
