Hammer Laila, Moretti Diego, Abbühl-Eng Lychou, Kandiah Pabiraa, Hilaj Nikolin, Portmann Reto, Egger Lotti
Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux, Berne, Switzerland.
Department of Health, Swiss Distant University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), Brig, Switzerland.
Front Nutr. 2023 Jul 3;10:1150581. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1150581. eCollection 2023.
Edible insects, such as mealworms (; TM) and crickets (; AD), are a sustainable, protein-dense novel food with a favorable amino acid profile, which might be an alternative to animal proteins. To assess the protein quality of TM and AD, we assessed the digestible indispensable amino acid scores (DIAAS), considering individual amino acids and their ileal amino acid digestibility, using an model based on the INFOGEST digestion protocol. In addition, we evaluated if various processing and food preparation steps influenced the digestibility of individual amino acids and the DIAAS values of TM and AD and compared them to chicken breast as a reference of excellent protein quality. The total protein digestibility ranged from 91 to 99% for TM and from 79 to 93% for AD and was negatively affected by oven-drying and, to a lesser extent, by chitin-reduction. The DIAAS values were 113, 89, and 92 for chicken, blanched TM, and blanched AD, respectively, when considering the indispensable amino acid (IAA) requirements of young children between 6 months and 3 years. Across different processing and food preparation methods, the DIAAS values ranged between 59 and 89 for TM and between 40 and 92 for AD, with the lowest values found in chitin-reduced insects. Due to their similarities to chicken regarding protein composition, total protein digestibility, and DIAAS values, TM and AD might be an alternative to traditional animal proteins, provided that suitable processing and food preparation methods are applied. Our DIAAS results suggest that TM and AD can thus be considered good-quality protein sources for children older than 6 months. The DIAAS calculations are currently based on crude protein (total nitrogen × 6.25), resulting in an overestimation of insect protein content, and leading to an underestimation and potential misclassification of protein quality. The model applied in this study is a valuable tool for product development to optimize the protein quality of edible insects. Further studies are required to assess the DIAAS of insects in humans.
可食用昆虫，如黄粉虫（；TM）和蟋蟀（；AD），是一种可持续的、蛋白质密集型的新型食物，具有良好的氨基酸组成，可能是动物蛋白的替代品。为了评估黄粉虫和蟋蟀的蛋白质质量，我们使用基于INFOGEST消化方案的模型，通过考虑单个氨基酸及其回肠氨基酸消化率，评估了可消化必需氨基酸评分（DIAAS）。此外，我们评估了各种加工和食品制备步骤是否会影响单个氨基酸的消化率以及黄粉虫和蟋蟀的DIAAS值，并将它们与鸡胸肉进行比较，鸡胸肉是优质蛋白质质量的参考标准。黄粉虫的总蛋白质消化率在91%至99%之间，蟋蟀的总蛋白质消化率在79%至93%之间，且受到烘干的负面影响，在较小程度上也受到几丁质减少的影响。考虑到6个月至3岁幼儿对必需氨基酸（IAA）的需求，鸡肉、焯烫后的黄粉虫和焯烫后的蟋蟀的DIAAS值分别为113、89和92。在不同的加工和食品制备方法中，黄粉虫的DIAAS值在59至89之间，蟋蟀的DIAAS值在40至92之间，几丁质减少的昆虫中DIAAS值最低。由于黄粉虫和蟋蟀在蛋白质组成、总蛋白质消化率和DIAAS值方面与鸡肉相似，因此如果采用合适的加工和食品制备方法，它们可能是传统动物蛋白的替代品。我们的DIAAS结果表明，黄粉虫和蟋蟀因此可被视为6个月以上儿童的优质蛋白质来源。目前DIAAS的计算基于粗蛋白（总氮×6.25），导致对昆虫蛋白质含量的高估，并导致蛋白质质量的低估和潜在的错误分类。本研究中应用的模型是产品开发中优化可食用昆虫蛋白质质量的有价值工具。需要进一步的研究来评估昆虫在人体中的DIAAS。
