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Bug Appétit: Barriers to Entomophagy
Consumer acceptance is the main barrier to the consumption of edible insects.
The problem with edible insects is consumer acceptance. Entomophobia, for which scientists describe “the public’s irrational revulsion and fear of insects…noting that these attitudes are not helped at all helped by government regulations that refer to insect parts as filth, lumping them together with rodent droppings.”
Our irrational revulsion has even been called a type of social pollution. “Westerners should become more aware of the fact that their bias against insects as food has an adverse impact, resulting in a gradual reduction in the use of insects without replacement of lost nutrition.” Basically saying, hey, even this is better than getting them hooked on Spam and Twinkies.
Not to oversell them, though; edible insects are not without their problems. Your supper can bite back, and dyspepsia has been reported, which is basically like a kind of upset tummy. Numerous reports record intestinal upsets after people have eaten foods containing insects and mites.
In three experiments conducted on healthy subjects, ingestion of housefly larvae produced nausea in 83% of volunteers. Maggots? Live maggots? I think they’re burying the lead, here. How about the whopping 17% of people that didn’t get nauseated?
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Kerry Skinner.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Ramos-Elorduy J, Moreno JM, Camacho VH. Edible aquatic Coleoptera of the world with an emphasis on Mexico. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2009 Apr 20;5:11.
- Ramos-Elorduy J. Threatened edible insects in Hidalgo, Mexico and some measures to preserve them. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2006 Dec 4;2:51.
- Gorham JR. The significance for human health of insects in food. Annu Rev Entomol. 1979;24:209-24.
- Sengupta S, Dhanapal P, Ravindran RD, Devi N. Cerebral blindness after scorpion sting. J Neuroophthalmol. 2009 Jun;29(2):154-5.
Images thanks to istolethetv, david.orban, and jntolva via flickr
The problem with edible insects is consumer acceptance. Entomophobia, for which scientists describe “the public’s irrational revulsion and fear of insects…noting that these attitudes are not helped at all helped by government regulations that refer to insect parts as filth, lumping them together with rodent droppings.”
Our irrational revulsion has even been called a type of social pollution. “Westerners should become more aware of the fact that their bias against insects as food has an adverse impact, resulting in a gradual reduction in the use of insects without replacement of lost nutrition.” Basically saying, hey, even this is better than getting them hooked on Spam and Twinkies.
Not to oversell them, though; edible insects are not without their problems. Your supper can bite back, and dyspepsia has been reported, which is basically like a kind of upset tummy. Numerous reports record intestinal upsets after people have eaten foods containing insects and mites.
In three experiments conducted on healthy subjects, ingestion of housefly larvae produced nausea in 83% of volunteers. Maggots? Live maggots? I think they’re burying the lead, here. How about the whopping 17% of people that didn’t get nauseated?
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Kerry Skinner.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Ramos-Elorduy J, Moreno JM, Camacho VH. Edible aquatic Coleoptera of the world with an emphasis on Mexico. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2009 Apr 20;5:11.
- Ramos-Elorduy J. Threatened edible insects in Hidalgo, Mexico and some measures to preserve them. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2006 Dec 4;2:51.
- Gorham JR. The significance for human health of insects in food. Annu Rev Entomol. 1979;24:209-24.
- Sengupta S, Dhanapal P, Ravindran RD, Devi N. Cerebral blindness after scorpion sting. J Neuroophthalmol. 2009 Jun;29(2):154-5.
Images thanks to istolethetv, david.orban, and jntolva via flickr
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Doctor's Note
Meat from wild animals may trigger less inflammation (see Modern Meat Not Ahead of the Game), and since bugs aren’t shot (see Filled Full of Lead), they may be Good Grub: The Healthiest Meat. Maggots may even be used to improve food safety (see Maggot Meat Spray, as I mentioned in my full-length 2012 presentation, Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death). I’m afraid, however, I would fall into the 83%.
For more context, check out my associated blog posts: Adding FDA-Approved Viruses to Meat, and What Is the Healthiest Meat?
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