Edible Insects as a Substitute for Conventional Meat in Human Diet: An Application of Nutritional Profiling Models

Abstract

The world population is steadily increasing thereby stretching food resources with devastating effects on the well-being of humanity. Protein sources are diminishing at a fast rate and the production of more animal protein to meet the increasing demand has impacted negatively on the environment. Meat and meat products have been blamed for a myriad of problems facing human kind like lifestyle illnesses, environmental degradation, and climate change. There is therefore an urgent need for alternative protein sources such as edible insects. Edible insects have been suggested as the suitable alternatives to conventional meats in order to ameliorate these drawbacks. The use of insects as food for humans has been practiced traditionally in many countries. Edible insects are a suitable source of valuable nutrients that can meet the nutritional requirements for humans. Nutrient profiling (NP) is the science of categorizing foods according to their nutritional composition to help consumers make healthful dietary choices. Healthfulness is the ability for a given food to impart health benefits to the consumer. Evidence is however scanty on the healthfulness of both the meats and edible insects in order to have grounds for replacing meats with insects in the diet. The objective of this study was to evaluate the suitability of edible insects as healthful alternatives to conventional meats in human diet by use of nutrient profiling models. Nutritional data for edible insects were searched systematically from published research articles using Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. A total of 483 published scientific journal articles were obtained and screened for quality based on European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) guidelines with data from 26 articles meeting the criteria by scoring above 17.5 out of 35 points. A total of 91 insect species in 135 data lines were identified in the search. The healthfulness of edible insects and conventional meats was carried out using data obtained from Food Composition Tables (FCTs) and the systematic review, which were applied in three nutrient profiling models: the WXYfm (Ofcom) model that was designed to regulate advertising of foods to children, the RRR (Ratio of Recommended to Restricted) model that assesses the ratio of positive to negative nutrients in foods, and the GDA (Guideline Daily Amounts) model which has been used to regulate health claims on foods. To assess the effect of replacing meat with edible insects on the nutritional quality of diets, 21 meat recipes were obtained from Kenya and 13 from Malawi FCTs, respectively. The meats in the recipes were replaced with cricket, termite, and grasshopper since they are among the most consumed edible insects in Kenya and Malawi. The healthfulness of the recipes before and after substitution was evaluated using the three NP models. For cost-effectiveness study, the prices of the recipe ingredients were obtained from the online marketplace and the cost of each recipe calculated before and after substitution. Tukey's Studentized Range (HSD) Test (The SAS System) was used to check for significance in differences of healthfulness using mean scores. The results showed a wide variety of nutrient content among different insect species, with great variation within species and regions, attributable to diet (feeding regime), sex, geographical source, and growth stage. The highest and the lowest recorded values for macronutrients were; Carbohydrates: 94.01g/100g, 0.1g/100g; Protein: 81.11g/100g, 1.11g/100g and Fat: 77.01g/100g, 2.11g/100g. The highest energy value was 762.0 Kcal/100g and the lowest was 268.3 Kcal/100g. The highest and lowest values for fatty acids were; SFA: 733.46mg/100g, 17.50mg/100g; MUFA: 165.80mg/100g, 5.67mg/100g; and PUFA: 1514.32mg/100g, 3.70mg/100g. Potassium was the highest reported value of 2515mg/100g while copper was the lowest reported value of 0.0073mg/100g. Vitamin E was the highest recorded value of 0.925mg/100g while vitamin C was the lowest recorded value of 0.0046mg/100g. The highest recorded value for amino acids was 96.02mg/g of protein for leucine and the lowest reported value was 1.19mg/g of protein for methionine+cysteine. The WXYfm model classified all foods as healthful, and Nasutitermes spp. was significantly more healthful than duck (P=0.001). The RRR model classified all foods as healthful, and Nasutitermes spp termite. was significantly more healthful than all other foods except Macrotermes bellicosus termite and tilapia fish (P=0.018). Duck (for women and men) and pork (for women), were classified as unhealthful by the GDA scoring system, and duck was significantly less healthful than all other foods (P<0.0001), except for pork and mutton. There were significant differences between the healthfulness of conventional meats and edible insects’ recipes, and also their cost (P<0.022). Termite was the most suitable to replace meats in recipes in Kenya and Malawi to improve healthfulness. Recipes with more expensive meat ingredients, e.g., mackerel, beef liver, and omenawere less cost-effective. In conclusion, edible insects are a good source of nutrients and can be used to fight undernutrition with some insect species providing a significant contribution to the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). Edible insects are promising alternatives to conventional meats, but the choice should be on a species-to-species basis. This would be significant in fighting hunger and broadening the choice of nutrients sources to cater for an ever-increasing world population