Journal of Agriculture and Food Research (Dec 2023)
Bioactive compounds of insects for food use: Potentialities and risks
Abstract
Insects are an alternative source of human and animal food that not only have nutritional characteristics and important bioactive compounds, but also can help reduce the impact of chronic non-communicable diseases; thus, derivatives from insects are a great contribution to the food and pharmaceutical industry. The aim of the present work was to highlight the chemical composition, main bioactive compounds, and anti-nutritional factors present in some insects and their applications as raw materials in the food and pharmaceutical industry through the analysis of different studies. Results indicated that entomophagy was included in the diet of many regions in the world and that it is going to become a significant component in the food industry. It was also found that bioactive compounds with potential functional properties within the chemical composition of insects such as an appropriate digestibility between 54 % and 86 %, peptides between 35 % and 77 % and other nutrients such as proteins and carbohydrates that can be a great contribution to nutrition and reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases. Global agencies are of the opinion that edible insects are the viable option to over the food scarcity. However, use of food matrices from insects raises safety issues, such as anti-nutritional factors allergenicity and capacity to harbor toxins such as oxalates, tannins, alkaloids, phytates and saponins or pathogens and heavy metal. Insights presented in this work are useful to insect business (such as farmers, producers of edible insect products and consultants), researchers, and policy makers. Such insights can be an initiative for insect food companies in many ways, such as to forge collaborations with different bodies (researchers, peoples, government), improve perception of insect consumption, promote market acceptance, identify new and native edible insect species, make ecologically sustainable insect food companies, produce nutritious and delicious insect-based foods, etc.
