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BOB HIRSHON (host):
Arthropods for healthy guts. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
More than two billion people around the world regularly consume insects. And for good reason: they’re packed full of protein, fiber, and other nutrients. Now, there’s preliminary evidence that eating insects could have a positive impact on gut health, according to a study in Scientific Reports. University of Wisconsin, Madison researcher Valerie Stull and her team had volunteers consume breakfast foods containing 25 grams of ground cricket powder every day for two weeks.
VALERIE STULL (University of Wisconsin, Madison):
We were happy to see that cricket consumption at this dose was safe. And we also saw that cricket consumption was associated with an increase in the abundance of healthy bacteria.
HIRSHON:
And if you’re still on the fence about adding arthropods to your diet, Stull says raising edible insects is more eco-friendly than conventional livestock ranching. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.
Story by Susanne Bard
Below is a sampling of companies selling edible insect foods: