BUGGING OUT

With benefits for health and the environment, insects could be the hottest new trend hitting your plate.

A new study published in Frontiers in Nutrition has shown why insects may be touted as the next superfood trend. The researchers measured antioxidant levels in commercially available edible insects and found that crickets have 75 per cent the antioxidant power of fresh orange juice, and silkworm fat has twice the antioxidant power of olive oil. While it may take a new mindset for many of us to embrace the new trend, “at least two billion people – a quarter of the world’s population – regularly eat insects,” says Professor Mauro Serafini, lead author of the study. “Edible insects are an excellent source of protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and fibre,“said Professor Serafini.

As if that weren’t enough reason to consider changing your diet, insects also have a very small land, water and carbon footprint when compared with livestock. Considering food production accounts for 25 per cent of all human greenhouse gas emissions – and farming livestock is a huge contributor to these emissions – insects could prove to be a much more sustainable alternative for the planet.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Neuroscience researchers at the University of Southern California have identified a new role for the ‘hunger hormone’ ghrelin. Not only does ghrelin send hunger signals from the gut to the brain, but new findings suggest that it may also be important for memory control. Produced in the stomach and secreted in anticipation of eating, ghrelin then binds to the vagus nerve – which communicates signals from the gut to the brain. “We recently [found] that in addition to influencing the amount of food consumed during a meal, the vagus nerve also influences memory function,” explained Dr Scott Kanoski – senior author of the study. The researchers hope to use the new findings to improve memory capacity by manipulating the ghrelin signalling.