Nutritional value of insect food (efficiencies and functions of insects)

Insects are very rich in nutrients, including organic substances: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, etc., as well as a large amount of free amino acids and vitamins needed by the human body; inorganic substances: various salts, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, iron; Calcium etc. According to analysis, every 100 ml of human plasma contains 24.4-34.4 mg of free amino acids, while every 100 ml of insect blood contains 293.3-2430.1 mg of free amino acids, which is several times higher than that of human blood. . Silkworm chrysalis contains 18 kinds of amino acids, among which the amino acids essential to the human body are higher than those of soybeans. The protein content in insects is also very high. According to analysis, dried cicadas contain 72.02% protein; wasps contain 81% protein; the protein content in termites is higher than that of beef. 100 grams of termites can produce 500 calories (2090 joules). ) calories, 100 grams of beef can only produce 130 calories (544 joules). It can be seen that insects are truly high-protein foods. In addition to being rich in nutrients, many insects also have unique health-care effects. For example, locusts can warm the stomach, help yang, strengthen the spleen and transport food, and cicadas can clear away heat, calm wind, and calm convulsions. The development of insect food has great promise and has attracted the attention of various countries. Some countries are conducting research, screening, and cultivating insect foods with high nutritional value as a source of supplementary human food. According to statistics, there are currently 373 species of edible insects in the world, including 8 categories and 63 genera.

Can you imagine using flies as human immune health food? According to the measurement of nutritionists, it was found that the crude protein content of dry fly maggot powder is as high as 61.2%, the crude fat content is 23%, and it is also rich in calcium, magnesium, Phosphorus and other trace elements necessary for the human body are an excellent human food. The production of fly larvae has the advantage of low price. Because flies have a short reproductive cycle and strong fecundity. A pair of flies can give birth to 266 billion maggots in one summer. People can extract pure protein and fat from the maggots and make high-end food for human consumption.

According to reports, small individual flies that have been artificially domesticated and cultivated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences for 50 years are being used in a "fly factory" in Wuhan to extract nutrients with immune effects. This high-tech project of our country is already among the international leaders. Nowadays, in the "fly factory", people feed billions of "engineered flies" with milk powder and soybean powder. A large number of fly maggots grow white and fat in the nutrient base prepared with wheat bran. Researchers can extract antibacterial active proteins, complex amino acids, maggot oil, chitin and other widely used substances from these fat maggots. "Anti-bacterial active protein" has extremely strong bactericidal power. As long as the concentration is one ten thousandth, it is enough to kill various germs. This provides extremely precious clues for the development of efficient antibiotics.

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