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Scientists advise adding crickets to food
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Have you tried grated crickets? Meanwhile, American scientists recommend adding this ingredient to food: it normalizes immune defense and improves the quality of intestinal flora.
The exotic cuisine of many nations includes various insects in their food. However, we, people unaccustomed to such "delicacies", are unlikely to want to try, for example, crickets, even if we are very hungry.
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) are confident that crickets are a very useful addition to the diet.
The following experiment was conducted. Twenty healthy male and female participants (average age 18-48 years) ate either their usual food for breakfast or the same products, but seasoned with grated powdered insects - crickets. After a couple of weeks, the participants switched places. Now those who ate their usual food began to receive crickets as a food ingredient. All volunteers regularly submitted to laboratory tests: blood, feces for microflora. They also had to talk in detail about their food preferences and habits - throughout the experiment, regardless of the presence or absence of insects in the diet.
During the entire study, no side effects were found in the participants when using the new "additive". However, according to the analysis, after eating crickets, the level of the protein substance TNF, a known stimulator of the inflammatory response, decreased in the blood of people. Thus, it could be concluded that the "cricket" diet normalized immune processes. And one more thing: crickets increased the activity of an enzyme, the presence of which was considered an indicator of the health of the intestinal flora, and the microbiome was additionally enriched with beneficial bifidobacteria, optimizing the digestive system.
Many may notice that the experiment involved too few people, so it cannot be called indicative. Repeated studies with more participants are required. In addition, it is necessary to clarify: what substances make cricket powder so useful? Scientists assume that such an active substance is chitin - a natural polysaccharide that makes up the outer type of skeleton in invertebrates.
The scientific world has known about chitin for a long time: it is a substance chemically close to plant dietary fibers (also polysaccharides). Such fibers are an indispensable product for high-quality intestinal microflora: under their influence, many useful substances are released, and the flora itself is maximally enriched. Of course, chitin is not fiber, but it is very possible that the human microbiome can use it as food, extracting only benefits.
Detailed information about the scientists’ research is published in the Scientific Reports (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29032-2).
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