After entomophagy (consumption of insects) described as the future of food, researchers are still looking for a healthy, nutritious and inexpensive food … But cockroach milk is all about even unexpected! After the disgust that the insect generally inspires, could it be that in the near future the cockroach will become our new cow?
In any case, this is the hope that Nathan Coussens, researcher at the University of Iowa, who discovered ten years ago that a species of cockroach, the Diploptera punctata, produced high protein crystals in his bowels.
As incredible as it may seem, this cockroach is the only viviparous of its kind: so it does not lay eggs but gives birth to its young, like mammals. The offspring receive a sufficient amount of nutrients in their mother’s womb before they emerge.
It is at this moment that Nathan Coussens realizes that the nourishing milk dispensed by the charming creature to his child is at least three times more energetic than the others. Reproducing these extremely protein-rich milk crystals becomes a new goal for him for the future.
Producing this milk, a challenge for the future
A team of Canadian, American, French, Japanese and Indian researchers set out to produce this nutritional supplement in quantity. Their latest study, published in July in the International Union of Crystallography, reveals that they succeeded in sequencing the genes responsible for the production of milk by the cockroach intestines.
“Crystals are complete food. They contain protein, fat, sugars. If you look at the protein sequences, they contain all the essential amino acids. They are very stable. It could be a fantastic protein supplement.” enthuses Sanchari Banerjee, one of the study’s authors.
There is only one step left before this substance is produced in the laboratory and in large quantities. The success of this project could have definite advantages in terms of feeding the human species in the near future, especially in poor countries or countries in difficulty where the food crisis is a real public health problem. Does eating insects and cockroach milk represent the diet of the future? The future will tell.
Read also :
“A world without meat”, a fascinating documentary on the plate of the future
How about putting insects on our plates?
The benefits of dairy products
