Malnutrition and Eating Insects

Malnutrition

Malnutrition occurs when there is an imbalance intake of energy and/or nutrients in a person's diet, which can either be less or in excesses. It involves three categories; undernutrition, stunting, micro nutrient deficiency and obesity. Different studies done by (Ihuoma, 2015) have linked food insecurity to different forms of malnutrition. malnutrition increases health care costs, reduces productivity and slows economic growth, which can perpetuate a cycle of poverty and ill health (Kamenwa, 2017).

Under nutrition

Is still a major public health concern in many developing countries especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to about 8 million children death worldwide (Seychell & Reeves, 2015).

Under nutrition have contributed to serious consequences, especially in school going children affecting their ability to learning, their health, cognition, and subsequently their educational achievement will also be affected (Zenebe, Gebremedhin, Henry, & Regassa, 2018).children who are Underfed usually are vulnerable to disease and death. Therefore Poor health among this children is more likely to diminish their cognitive development and physical development (Halloran et al.

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, 2018). Food insecurity has also been a major barrier to child education (Sarbak, 2019). Many school age going children in food insecure areas remain out of school (Kamenwa, 2017). This is so because sometimes they are too weak to go to school or they may accompany their parents looking for food, therefore missing out in school

Wasting

Usually indicates severe weight loss, it is usually associated with acute starvation and /or an infectious disease, which might have caused muscle wasting. This imposes more danger of death especially to young children who are moderately or severely but treatment is also possible (Kamenwa, 2017).

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Stunting

Stunting is a chronic or recurrent under nutrition, usually associated with poor socioeconomic conditions, poor maternal health and nutrition, frequent illness, and/or inappropriate infant and young child feeding and care in early life (Nisbett, Wach, Haddad, & El Arifeen, 2015). The consequences of Stunting is holding back children from reaching their physical and cognitive potential (Cornelsen et al., 2016).

Micronutrient-related malnutrition

Reduced intake of vitamins and minerals is often referred to as micronutrients. Which are essential for proper body growth and development for example the enzymes and hormones. In global public health micronutrients such as Iodine, vitamin A, and iron are the most important (Zenebe et al., 2018) their deficiency represents a major threat to the health and development of populations worldwide, particularly children in low-income countries.

Overweight and obesity

A person is said to be overweight or obese when the body mass index is too high for his or her height (Mile, Hristos, Milena, & Biljana, 2013). Excessive fat accumulation which is caused by imbalance between energy intake and energy spent can impair health. Overweight and obesity has been contributed largely by over consumption of high sugar, high fat diet with less physical activity.

Edible insects

Insect consumption has been practiced among Kenyan communities since ancestral times, and more so, when there was food insufficiency. In the recent years, there has been great interest in insect consumption around the world ,this is because insects have been found to contain high quality nutrient content and especially proteins (C. Hartmann, Shi, Giusto, & Siegrist, 2016). Animal protein production in a sustainable way imposes great challenge to the rapid growing population (van Huis & Oonincx, 2017). It has been estimated that by the year 2050, the world's population will have increase to 9 billion. Producing sufficient and nutritious food, for such large population will be a huge challenge for agriculture (Prosekov & Ivanova, 2018). In developing countries for example, access to animal protein has significantly reduced due to rising prices (Gillespie & van den Bold, 2017).

Insects are increasingly seen as a potentially important source of cheap protein that can supplement conventional protein sources, such as meat, without overcharging the environment (Halloran et al., 2018). There is a need for a cheap source of protein therefore the use of insects as food can help to meet the challenge.

This has prompted many studies to turn their attention to insects as food to address the growing problem of global food security, (Moore, 2018) (Ayieko Monica, Kinyuru John Ekesi Sunday, 2016) (Paul et al., 2016). Crickets are a valuable source high in protein, dietary fiber, unsaturated fatty acids, and vitamins. Therefore, the use of insects can be a sustainable solution to existing and looming issues of malnutrition.

Recent studies have shown that crickets can be easily reared. It produces less greenhouse gases therefore imposing less stress to the environment (Caparros Megido et al., 2016). They provide high quality nutrients because of high feed conversion rate, which in turn are cheaper, efficient and environmentally sound protein source when compared with compared with traditional livestock protein sources, which are expensive to maintain (Moore, 2018). Crickets can be therefore a solution to food insecurity and malnutrition in developing countries.

Despite all this benefits, they have not been fully accepted, their consumption have not been taken seriously by many therefore more focus should be on how to promote their acceptability among the individuals who originally were eating insects but currently have reduced the consumption. Masking insects with other ingredients therefore, can help increase their consumption. Recent study done by (A. M. Homann, Ayieko, Konyole, & Roos, 2017) on acceptability of cricket biscuits compared to milk power showed that the cricket biscuits were accepted over milk powder.

The cricket has been processed and used in various forms for example cricket powder, has been mixed with baking flour to make buns (Pambo et al., 2018). In terms of nutritional value, this product was highly valued and contained three times more protein than sirloin, and twice as much as chicken breast.

Acceptance of eating insects

Many communities have been eating insect for centuries (Moore, 2018). Though insects have not been used as food they have been eaten as snack (A. M. Homann et al., 2017). Though many studies have focused on insect consumption as food to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition (Sarbak, 2019), but it's acceptability of insects as an alternative protein source has remained a challenge among Kenyan consumers.

Why we should eat insects

Overall, eating of edible insects can be promoted for three reasons:

Health

Insects already form a traditional part of many communities and national diets. Insects have been rated high in protein, good fats and micronutrients such as; iron, calcium and zinc. Furthermore they are healthy, nutritious and alternatives to mainstream staples from sources such as pork, chicken and beef (Paul et al., 2016).

Environmental

Insect rearing doesn't need large pieces of land and not a land-based activity and therefor no land clearing for its production (Carolyne et al., 2017). Insects use as food emit considerably lower greenhouse gases (GHGs) than most livestock (methane, for instance, is produced by only a few insect groups, such as termites and cockroaches). The ammonia emitted with insect rearing are also far much lower than those associated with conventional livestock, such as pigs(van Huis & Oonincx, 2017). Because insects are cold-blooded, they are very efficient at converting feed into protein (crickets, for example, need 12 times less feed than cattle, four times less feed than sheep, and half the feeds of pigs and broiler chickens to get equal amount of protein) (Caparros Megido et al., 2016).

Livelihoods (economic and social factors)

Insect harvesting/rearing is a low-tech, low-capital investment option that can generate income for the poor in the society, landless and women who have less access to assets where ownership of assets is strongly male centered (Carolyne et al., 2017). This mini rearing of insects can offer livelihood opportunities for both urban and rural people by increasing Agricultural productivity and profitability (Quisumbing et al., 2015).

Insects as animal feed

For the continually growing world population, Alternative food and feed sources are needed particularly the high demand for protein-rich food and livestock feed(van Huis & Oonincx, 2017). Livestock feeds of high protein can also be obtained from insects in a sustainable way and can turn low-grade bio waste into proteins. Methionine and cysteine (Halloran et al., 2018), which is generally the most limiting essential amino acids for growing pigs and broilers.

Animal proteins (meat, pork, fish, milk and eggs) are highly rated in quality and therefore appreciated as major source of protein by many people (Cornelsen et al., 2016). These animal proteins are however expensive and not easily available(Moore, 2018). Rapid population growth, change in land used and high production cost has attributed to high cost of animal protein has prompted search for alternative sources which include insects (Dobermann, 2017).

Livestock feed protein sources such as soybean and fish meals are the most competitive protein source but they are costly (Veldkamp & Bosch, 2015). Therefore insects have been suggested as alternatives animal feed required to reduce production cost. A preliminary study confirmed that there were no major observed quality differences between meat from soya bean meal and fish meal fed livestock (Koeleman, 2015) to that of insect fed. That being the case therefore insects are can be highly suitable alternative livestock feed due to their high nutritional values overall reduced environmental impacts (Berkelaar, 2017).

Nutritional composition of cricket

Insects have a varied biochemical composition of both macronutrients and micronutrients Crickets in particular, offer a highly economical protein source (Caparros Megido et al., 2016) and therefore, sustainable solution to existing and looming issues of malnutrition. To help meet growing demand of quality nutrients, insects therefore plays a great role in reducing undernutrition in young children and increase in food security (Carolyne et al., 2017). Insects have high protein and fatty acid content (Elhassan, Wendin, Olsson, & Langton, 2019)and plenty of minerals such as iron, selenium, copper, magnesium and zinc.

Cricket nutritional composition

  • Protein (42.0-45.8% of dry matter)
  • Fat (23.6-29.1% of dry matter
  • Ca 2.33 mg/100?g of dry matter
  • Mg 4.51 mg/100?g of dry matter
  • Fe 4.1 mg/100?g of dry matter
  • Cu 12.8 mg/100?g of dry matter
  • Mn 12.8 mg/100?g of dry matter
  • Zn 21.8 mg/100?g of dry matter
Updated: May 19, 2021
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Malnutrition and Eating Insects. (2019, Nov 27). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/malnutrition-and-eating-insects-essay

Malnutrition and Eating Insects essay
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