In recent years, the issue of food shortage has been constantly discussed, and in order to solve this major crisis of life and death, in addition to the development of artificial meat, scientists have decided to officially put insects on the human table.
On 1 May 2017, Switzerland announced that three species of insects, including tenebrio molitor, adult crickets and locusta migratoria, have been officially included in the food list. Alternative protein is also an important topic at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2020, and the world meat giant Tyson Foods has also announced the establishment of a global protein alliance to promote the sustainable development of the protein market. In May, Interreg, an EU regional fund, allocated 2.08 million euros to its Valusect Alliance to promote the research and application of edible insects and encourage innovative development in the industry. In January 2021, the European Food Safety Authority passed the safety license for bread worms, which brought new possibilities to the insect protein market.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > optimistic about the alternative protein market French insect protein factory acquired Dutch bread worm company</h1>
On April 13, 2021, Ynsect announced the acquisition of Dutch bread worm company Protifarm, hoping to continue to expand the market for human consumption of insect protein.
Ynsect and Protifarm both use a zero-waste circular production system in the process of producing goods, Protifarm CEO Tom Mohrmann said that although the current market demand for insect protein has just begun to change, but in the consumer's demand for health and sustainability, the demand for insect protein will grow exponentially in the future.
In fact, as early as a few years ago, European countries began to discuss the possibility of insects as food, in May 2015, the British distillery Gin tailor and Danish scientists jointly developed a wine brewed using ants, at the end of 2015, the French startup Entoma launched a snack Jimini with insects as spices, which was selected as one of the top 10 most innovative foods and drinks in 2015. In January 2016, Bugsolutely, a Thai company specializing in edible insects, launched Italian spiral noodles made of crickets and flour in Italy.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > but recent studies have found that the effect of insect proteins in fueling muscle is actually relatively limited. </h1>
Researchers in the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University in Denmark did a study, first selected 18 Danish men between the ages of 18 and 30 who usually do resistance exercises (such as lifting dumbbells), asked them to do 4 days of resistance exercise in 1 week, these 4 days add up to 10 hours, and do it for 8 consecutive weeks, and randomly divided them into 2 groups, 1 group of energy bars made of insect protein (mealworm) within 1 hour after each exercise. The other group was supplemented with energy bars made from general plant protein (soy protein). The three meals per day of the two groups of subjects were prepared by the researchers to ensure that they usually ingested the same food.
After 18 weeks, both groups of subjects needed to be tested for their weight, total fat density and muscle endurance, and it was found that both groups of subjects had significant increases in weight and muscle endurance, but in the part of total fat density, the total fat of the subjects who supplemented the general energy bar had a significant decline in total fat, but there was no difference in the total fat rate of the subjects supplemented with insect protein energy bars and before the experiment.
Mathias Vangsoe, a lab leader and professor in the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, said that although the amino acids that make up insect protein are similar to soy protein, the absorption rate and bioavailability of insect protein may be worse than that of soy protein, and it is not as effective as scientists think in the past to ingest insect protein to effectively boost muscle. Another author of the study, Mette Hansen, reminded that soy protein is still missing some essential amino acids, so it is recommended that people who want to grow muscle can consume soy protein after exercise, but they still need to supplement animal protein with three meals to make nutrition more complete.
However, the researchers also admitted that this study is only a preliminary study on whether insect protein can boost muscles, and if there is a way to improve the absorption rate of insect protein in the future food processing technology, perhaps insect protein can really become a savior for humans.