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  #1   ^
Old Mon, Jul-15-19, 01:11
Demi's Avatar
Demi Demi is offline
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Plan: Muscle Centric
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Default Eating ants could protect against cancer, study finds

Quote:
From The Telegraph
London, UK
15 July, 2019

Eating ants could protect against cancer, study finds

Eating ants and other insects could soon be recommended to protect against cancer, following a groundbreaking new study.

A series of experiments by Italian scientists show that the ubiquitous invertebrate - in common with others such as grasshoppers and crickets - contains high concentrations of antioxidants.

The compounds are important for reducing chemical reactions in the body that produce free radicals, which are themselves believed to raise the risk of cancer.

They have also been linked to higher chances of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Antioxidants are present in a range of foods, including fruit and vegetables.

However, many of these consumed in the UK have a poor carbon footprint.

Food scientists believe western consumers will have to begin incorporating insects into their diet in coming decades, so a group at the University of Rome set out to discover the invertebrates’ antioxidant potential.

They found that after grinding down the insects, many had several times the concentration of antioxidants found in orange juice or olive oil, two of the items most frequently recommended to limit free radicals.

Water-soluble extracts of grasshoppers, silkworm and crickets displayed the highest values of antioxidant capacity, five-fold higher than fresh orange juice.

Meanwhile grasshoppers, black ants and mealworms contain the highest levels of total polyphenols, another way of characterising antioxidant potential.

Fat-soluble extracts of silkworm, giant cicada and Africa caterpillars showed an antioxidant capacity twice that of olive oil.

Professor Mauro Serafini, who led the research, said: “At least two billion people - a quarter of the world’s population - regularly eat insects.

“The rest of us will need a bit more encouragement.

“Edible insects are an excellent source of protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and fiber.

“But until now, nobody had compared them with classical functional foods such as olive oil or orange juice in terms of antioxidant activity.

“In the future, we might also adapt dietary regimens for insect rearing in order to increase their antioxidant content for animal or human consumption.”

Insects are gradually crawling their way into the UK diet.

Last November Sainsbury's announced it would become the first British supermarket to stock edible bugs, launching Eat Grub’s Smoky BBQ Crunchy Roasted Crickets in 250 stores across the country.

The crickets are marketed as both a standalone snack or to garnish dishes such as tacos, noodles or salads.

In 2017 Deliveroo customers in parts of London started being able to order morsels such as spicy cricket rice cakes, salted cricket and smoked tomato salad, as well as buffalo worms wrapped in a beta leaf through the app.

For the new research, the team tested a range of commercially available edible insects and invertebrates, using various measures of antioxidant activity.

Inedible parts like wings and stings were removed, then the insects were ground and two parts extracted for each species: the fat, and anything remaining that would dissolve in water.

Each extract was then tested separately.

The insects that were themselves vegetarian had much higher antioxidant capacity compared to those such as tarantulas and black scorpions.

Among the different species available for human consumption, Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (African caterpillars) and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants) represent 31, 18 and 14 per cent of total insect consumption around the world respectively.

The new study is published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science...er-study-finds/
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  #2   ^
Old Mon, Jul-15-19, 05:35
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Default

Can the ants be chocolate covered? Because that I could manage
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  #3   ^
Old Mon, Jul-15-19, 10:21
Verbena Verbena is offline
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I remember when I was a child, in the late 1950s/early '60s, friends of my parents put out a bowl of chocolate covered ants at a party. I remember thinking they were like chocolate covered rice krispies; chocolate with a bit of crunch
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  #4   ^
Old Mon, Jul-15-19, 12:51
teaser's Avatar
teaser teaser is offline
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Plan: mostly milkfat
Stats: 190/152.4/154 Male 67inches
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Default

Just they got antioxidants, so maybe they protect against cancer? Is that all they've got? There's also some research suggesting that antioxidants can actually promote cancer. Nothing against eating bugs, I just don't think they have much to go on here.
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  #5   ^
Old Mon, Jul-15-19, 20:55
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bevangel bevangel is offline
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Plan: modified adkins (sort of)
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Default

So, back when people were freaking out over published reports that the FDA "allowed" breakfast cereals to be contaminated with up to something like 60 insect fragments per 100g of cereal, the insect parts were actually the healthiest things in the cereal box!
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  #6   ^
Old Mon, Jul-15-19, 21:11
Ms Arielle's Avatar
Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline
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Posts: 19,179
 
Plan: atkins, carnivore 2023
Stats: 200/211/163 Female 5'8"
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Default

Good one!!!! Lol

My son picked up a bag of naco like crisps. Made from crickets . Man, they tasted GOOD.

MUCH of the world does rely on insects. I remind my boys that as long as it has six legs, not more. No spiders. Funny, we talked about the katter this weekend, figuring some souders might be ok, and others not, so to be safe, no spiders.

Im not ready for roasted grubs... maybe if I didnt know before trying one.....

A reasonable food source if not combined with a grain.....at least thats my preference.
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