Contents:
- Medical Video: Is cockroach milk the new superfood?
- Milk protein from cockroaches is more than buffalo milk
Medical Video: Is cockroach milk the new superfood?
Tired of drinking cow's milk, or not the appetite to drink legume milk because it tastes tasteless? Hmm ... What about cockroach milk, no?
Before nausea and vomiting, first consider the explanation of why you should drink cockroach milk from a joint team of Indian, French, Japanese and Canadian researchers working in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in America.
Cockroach milk is milked not from ordinary cockroaches
Cockroach milk is milked not from cockroaches busy in your house. The milk is taken from Pacific beetle cockroaches (Diploptera punctata).
Beetle cockroaches are a unique cockroach species. They don't lay eggs. These native insects of the Hawaiian islands give birth to live cockroaches from fleshy organs called the parent sac. Just like how babies are born from the human womb.
Also like humans, Pacific beetle cockroach mothers will "breastfeed" their children immediately after birth. These children get nutrients from the pale yellow thick liquid produced by the mother in the parent sac.
Beetroot breast milk is reported to be very high in energy, so it continues to be a single food source until the baby cockroaches grow up. That is why Pacific Pacific cockroach children will be much larger than other species of cockroach babies.
What is contained in cockroach milk?
Insect experts have long known that this one cockroach species produces "ASI". However, they thought that the milk would be destroyed in the stomach after going through a simple digestive process as usual.
Apparently, this liquid actually crystallizes in the stomach of a cockroach child after they "suckle". The research team analyzed these milk crystals and they were amazed by what they found,
Cockroach milk crystals are one of the most highly nutritious substances on Earth. This "ASI" cockroach, according to the researchers' findings, is enriched by fat, all essential fatty acids, lipids, sugar, carbohydrates, and proteins.
"The combination of these nutrients is the right combination needed by humans," said one of the researchers involved, Leonard Chavas, quoted by CNN.
Milk protein from cockroaches is more than buffalo milk
Chavas continued, a single milk crystal from a Pacific beetle cockroach had three times more energy content than the same amount of buffalo milk. Buffalo has dominated the first rank as an animal that produces milk with the highest protein and calories.
Even more surprising, these milk crystals can release protein at the same speed as your body consumes it. Moreover, the shape of these crystals is more easily stored in the human body so that it has the potential for human consumption.
High energy content and a more durable storage mechanism in the body make cockroach milk an ideal energy drink for athletes to recover after intense exercise sessions.
What is the taste of cockroach milk like?
Quoting NPR, Subramanian Ramaswamy, chief researcher and biochemist from the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, India, said he did not doubt the potential of this super nutritious cockroach milk as one of the main human foods in the future.
Ramaswamy described the taste of cockroach milk (believe me, he had tasted it) as fresh milk. Has no distinctive taste or smell.
Is cockroach milk safe for humans?
So, can cockroach milk enter the competitive market of healthy food that has been dominated by cow's milk, goat's milk, almond milk, rice milk, and coconut milk? According to the researchers, it's not that easy.
In theory, cockroach milk can be consumed by humans. However, researchers still cannot confirm that this milk is truly safe to drink.
In addition, it is also not easy to milk cockroaches. The population of beetle species is not enough to produce milk milk that can meet the needs of the world market.
After all, cockroaches are a "brand" that is bad for business. Who, who really wants to drink a glass labeled "cockroach milk" even though it is touted as healthy?
Cockroach milk, if it ever will, is most likely to be realized not through the process of milking a live cockroach. But through an artificial yeast process. Artificial yeast has been commonly used in the food industry to produce synthetic sweeteners, for example.
