[noondip]

> The tiny insects have been eaten in developing nations for centuries, but now consumers in the Western world are increasingly accepting them as an efficient and sustainable source of protein.

Every food has protein in it. Bananas have protein. Tomatoes have protein. All plant foods have a complete amino acid profile fit for human consumption. In fact, protein is the easiest macronutrient to get enough of, provided caloric needs are being met. So it's perplexing why eating insects is billed as a 'sustainable source of protein'. Is it more sustainable than say, rice or potatoes?

[maxerickson]

All plant foods have a complete amino acid profile fit for human consumption.

That's a really weird phrase. I guess suggestions that a protein complete diet is easier when eating meat are also a bit overwrought, but it's possible to eat plants and end up not getting all essential amino acids which is usually what is meant when "complete" is mentioned together with protein.

[noondip]

> it's possible to eat plants and end up not getting all essential amino acids

No, that isn't possible. You could eat nothing but potatoes, or even mangoes, and still get enough protein. There isn't a single whole plant food which is completely lacking in any essential amino acid. How could it? Plants can't "hunt" and "eat" other plants - they must synthesize all amino acids themselves. The "complete protein" myth is one which has been debunked for decades, yet somehow refuses to die.

[blacksmith_tb]

Because plants are not animals, and we are? "Nearly all foods contain all twenty amino acids in some quantity... Proportions vary, however, and most plant foods are deficient in one or more of the essential amino acids."[1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein

[noondip]

Deficient means there are lower levels of certain amino acids, but they're not missing entirely. It wouldn't make any biological sense for plants to be missing amino acids. If you read the actual cited source, you will find this:

> Usual dietary combinations of plant proteins are complete; specific plant proteins may be low in specific amino acids

> There is no evidence that amino acid imbalances per se are important; possible imbalances can be created by inappropriate amino acid supplementation, but this is not a practical problem.

[wodenokoto]

That's pretty much what the Meji era Japanese Navy told themselves and that didn't turn out very well.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/eating-too-much-rice-almost...

[noondip]

Beriberi is a nutritional deficit in vitamin B1, not protein, which is ironically easily remedied with potatoes.

[GordonS]

> You could eat nothing but potatoes, or even mangoes, and still get enough protein

And probably diabetes too!

[noondip]

Oh, come on - you don't really think so, do you? How many people do you know with diabetes as a result of eating potatoes or mangoes? Check out Starch Solution by John McDougall, if you're being serious. Here's a small tidbit on it - https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006nl/july/glycemic.htm - the guy literally uses potatoes and other starchy vegetables to treat diabetes.

> there is little evidence that total carbohydrate intake is associated with the development of type 2 diabetes. Rather, a stronger association has been observed between total fat and saturated fat intake and type 2 diabetes

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/9/2266.full

> The available data support the idea that consumption of diets high in total carbohydrate does not adversely affect insulin sensitivity compared with high fat diets. Animal data suggest that simple sugars, in particular fructose, have adverse effects on insulin action, but adverse effects have not been shown conclusively in humans.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11584106

[CaveTech]

It's a good source of relatively pure protein. Brown Rice is 8% protein by weight, whereas Crickets are ~70%.

[noondip]

Okay, but human nutritional needs only call for 10-15% of calories from protein. Why would you go for 70%? There are risks associated with excessive protein consumption, too.

[deskamess]

Percentage was by weight, not by recommended daily allowance.

[character0]

That may be true, but your assumption is that we would have an all cricket diet

[theandrewbailey]

When you want to eat protein, what do you eat? Meat. It usually comes from livestock (chicken, pork, beef, fish, etc). Crickets are far more sustainable than those conventional sources of protein.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

I never want to eat protein. I do, however, often want to eat meat. It has nothing to do with meat being high in protein and everything to do with it being tasty as fuck.

[noondip]

As I had explained in the parent comment, all food has protein, so it's not necessary to specially source it from a particular food. Especially when that food appears extremely unpalatable (or am I the only one who doesn't salivate at the sight of crickets?).

[jqm]

All food may have protein, but all food does not have essential amino acids (which cannot be made by your body) in the quantities required to maintain health. This is why non-meat eaters must be sure to add certain foods (or certain combination of foods) to their diet if they want to stay healthy. Not bagging on vegetarianism, but the idea you can get sufficient protein by just eating any old plant is.... wrong. And animal protein is a far easier and certain way to get essential amino acids. This from a guy who was a vegetarian for a number of years.

[noondip]

> All food may have protein, but all food does not have essential amino acids (which cannot be made by your body) in the quantities required to maintain health.

> the idea you can get sufficient protein by just eating any old plant is.... wrong.

You're quite mistaken. If what you say were true, a warning of it would be clearly made by medical and nutritional authorities. Alas, no respectable organization says it, precisely because it's a myth. You can easily search on Google to find evidence which contradicts your post. Here are just the first two results I found when looking at potatoes as an example:

> The high nutritive value of potato protein can be understood when its composition is compared with that of whole wheat (Table 2). Apart from histidine, it contains substantially more of all the essential amino-acids ; this superiority is particularly striking for lysine, the amount present being similar to that in a typical animal protein.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13536266

> For a 120 pound adult, five potatoes (960 calories) supply over 100% of the recommended intake for all essential amino acids.

> It's pretty difficult for an adult to eat a plant-based, vegetarian diet that doesn't provide all EAAs, as long as caloric needs are met.

> Finally - The pool of AAs that our body uses to manufacture its own proteins isn't limited by what we eat. Normal daily turnover of our cells provides a substantial pool from which to draw amino acids. Bacteria that line our colon also manufacture AAs, including EAAs, that we can utilize.

> It is a misconception that plants provide "incomplete protein", regardless of what Ms. Lappe advanced in her 1971 book, "Diet For A Small Planet."

http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2008/04/if-all-you-ate-were-...

[jqm]

for a 120 pound adult....

But I weigh over 200 pounds. So 9+ potatoes a day from me to get all the essential amino acids. That's a pretty high starch to protein ratio and would be nearly my whole intake in calories to get a bare minimum of amino acids. Essentials aside, is that enough protein? Also at that point I would have fulfilled my daily requirement of calories but be still be short vitamins A, K, E, calcium, selenium, fatty acids and who knows what else.

That aside, potatoes are one plant. I don't dispute you can eat certain plants or combinations of plants to get all essential amino acids. To restate "the idea you can get sufficient protein by eating just any old plant is... wrong". It is. You'd be in serious nutrition trouble if you tried to live on just broccoli or lettuce. You have to carefully balance your diet as a healthy vegetarian and it is far easier just to add some animal protein.

For the record I still eat a "mostly" vegetarian diet. But not completely. And I feel a lot better and have more energy than when I did ate a full vegetarian diet.

[panglott]

The article talks about harvesting them by freeze drying them and milling them into a flour. Ultimately this is protein as a dietary supplement.

People are willing to pay high prices for meat because meat is tasty and features in numerous delicious recipes, as well as being a source of protein. Crickets would have to be much, much cheaper than meat if the intended market is cricket flour for protein supplementation.

[Kiro]

You're basically dismissing all protein-rich foods.

[panglott]

Americans are just plain obsessed with protein.