Toral Pablo G, Renna Manuela, Frutos Pilar, Gasco Laura, Hervás Gonzalo
Instituto de Ganadería de Montaña (CSIC-University of León), Finca Marzanas, Grulleros, León 24346, Spain.
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, Grugliasco (TO) 10095, Italy.
Anim Nutr. 2025 Jul 5;22:179-190. doi: 10.1016/j.aninu.2025.03.016. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Insect products are attracting both scientific and commercial interest because of their high quality as food and feed, with insect farming having a low environmental impact and the potential to mitigate food-feed-fuel competition. Research on edible insects has primarily focused on their role as alternative protein sources, but the use of insect fat as feed offers a tool to modulate the fatty acid (FA) profile of animal-derived foods. In this review, we conducted a systematic literature search on the composition of insect fats and their effects in animal feeding trials. We compiled two datasets of FA profiles: insects used as feed ( = 120) and associated animal-derived products ( = 378). Most studies were available in aquaculture and poultry, but despite fewer publications in pigs, rabbits, and ruminants, results also seem promising in these species. Based on our dataset, insects can be described as non-conventional feeds with conventional FA profiles that could easily replace plant oils in animal diets without significantly altering the ration. Nevertheless, a greater analytical effort is needed to improve insect FA descriptions. In general, a limited number of insect species have been used as feed, primarily and , with opposite effects on the FA profile of animal products: the former consistently increases saturated FA content (12:0 and 14:0) in fish, meat, and eggs, while the latter usually improves the concentration of unsaturated FA (-9 18:1 and 18:2n-6). Responses to the use of other insect species are associated with their specific FA profiles. However, inconsistent effects of insect fats have often been described in the literature, largely due to the degree of unsaturation of the fat in control diets. As a general recommendation, when the aim is to improve the FA profile of animal products, insects should replace feeds with an equal or lower degree of unsaturation. Because few studies have evaluated the use of extracted insect oils as feed, a major effort is needed in the coming years to define recommended levels of inclusion and examine potential interactions with basal diet composition.
昆虫产品因其作为食品和饲料的高质量而吸引了科学界和商业界的关注，昆虫养殖对环境影响较小，并且有潜力缓解食品-饲料-燃料之间的竞争。对可食用昆虫的研究主要集中在其作为替代蛋白质来源的作用上，但使用昆虫脂肪作为饲料为调节动物源性食品的脂肪酸（FA）组成提供了一种手段。在本综述中，我们对昆虫脂肪的组成及其在动物饲养试验中的效果进行了系统的文献检索。我们汇编了两个脂肪酸组成数据集：用作饲料的昆虫（n = 120）和相关的动物源性产品（n = 378）。大多数研究来自水产养殖和家禽领域，不过尽管关于猪、兔和反刍动物的出版物较少，但在这些物种中的结果似乎也很有前景。基于我们的数据集，昆虫可被描述为具有常规脂肪酸组成的非常规饲料，能够在不显著改变日粮的情况下轻松替代动物日粮中的植物油。然而，需要付出更大的分析努力来完善对昆虫脂肪酸的描述。总体而言，用作饲料的昆虫种类有限，主要是家蝇和黄粉虫，它们对动物产品的脂肪酸组成有相反的影响：前者会持续增加鱼类、肉类和蛋类中饱和脂肪酸（12:0和14:0）的含量，而后者通常会提高不饱和脂肪酸（-9 18:1和18:2n-6）的浓度。对使用其他昆虫种类的反应与其特定的脂肪酸组成有关。然而，文献中经常描述昆虫脂肪的效果不一致，这在很大程度上是由于对照日粮中脂肪的不饱和程度所致。作为一般建议，当目标是改善动物产品的脂肪酸组成时，昆虫应替代不饱和程度相同或更低的饲料。由于很少有研究评估提取的昆虫油用作饲料的情况，未来几年需要付出巨大努力来确定推荐的添加水平，并研究其与基础日粮组成的潜在相互作用。
