Nutrition and health of edible insects.
Open accessAbstract
Purpose of review: Elucidate the effect of insects as feed and food on nutrition and health of humans and animals. Recent findings: A new sector is developing of insects as food and feed. The academic interest is growing exponentially. In addition to their high nutritional values, there are also health benefits. These relate to prebiotic effects of insect products, such as chitin on humans and animals. Insects have a large reservoir of antimicrobial peptides. Some insect species have shown to have antioxidant properties. Summary: The increasing demand for meat and the limited amount of land availability prompt the search for alternative protein sources. Insects require less land and have a lower environmental impact than meat products. In addition to having a high nutritional value, they have also health benefits. Several edible insect species can be grown on organic side streams, in this way contributing to a circular economy. The number of scientific articles increased exponentially, and more than 290 start-ups are now engaging in its production and marketing. Food safety issues are not a major issue but need to be carefully checked when organic waste streams are used. The main strategies related to consumer issues are disguising the insects in familiar products and making them tasty.
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The European Food Safety Authority has highlighted a lack of data regarding microbiology, virology, parasitology, and toxicology of edible insects.
“The EFSA has highlighted a lack of data regarding microbiology, virology, parasitology, and toxicology of edible insects.”
From Insect Derived Lauric Acid as Promising Alternative Strategy to Antibiotics in the Antimicrobial Resistance Scenario (2021) · cites this paper as van Huis, 2020
There is very limited information on the risks associated with families or species of insects, manufacturing processes, environmental impact of farming systems, and human consumption data.
“Currently, there is very limited information on the risks associated with families or species of insects, details of the manufacturing processes and the environmental impact of different farming systems, and there is also a lack of human consumption data (Ferri et al., 2019; van Huis, 2020).”
From Insect Derived Lauric Acid as Promising Alternative Strategy to Antibiotics in the Antimicrobial Resistance Scenario (2021) · cites this paper as van Huis, 2020
Cites
Defining a land boundary for sustainable livestock consumption
Van Zanten, H. H. E., Herrero, M., Van Hal, O., Röös, E., Muller, A., Garnett, T., Gerber, P. J., Schader, C., & De Boer, I. J. M. (2018) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.14321 · Cited by 406 · see citing works
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Borrelli, L., Varriale, L., Dipineto, L., Pace, A., Menna, L. F., & Fioretti, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.620798 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Upcycling of food waste and food loss-A sustainable approach in the food sector
Rakesh, B., & Mahendran, R. (2024) · Trends in Food Science & Technology · doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2023.104274 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Yimam, M. A., Andreini, M., Carnevale, S., & Muscaritoli, M. (2024) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2024.1461621 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- van Huis, A.
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care
- Published
- 2020-05
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 228-231
- ISSN
- 1363-1950 (ISSN-L)
- 1473-6519
- OpenAlex
- W3008785739
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 8.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.wur.nl
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Insect Utilization and Effects
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food and Agricultural Sciences
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Insect Pest Control Strategies
- Keywords
- edible insects, insect feed, nutritional value, health benefits, chitin, prebiotics, antimicrobial peptides, antioxidant activity, alternative protein sources, circular economy, food safety, consumer acceptance
- MeSH terms
- Diet, Healthy, Edible Insects, Animals, Humans, Nutritive Value
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