A Diet Rich in...Bugs!

If recent research or even common urban legends are to be believed — for every candy bar we consume, we also consume at least eight pieces of insect or that we swallow at least eight spiders in our sleep annually — introducing bugs into our daily diet should not surprise our "delicate" systems at all.

At least, that is what twin brothers who have created a health-food start-up focusing on protein derived from insects is banking on.

Lithic Nutrition offers products ranging from flavored cricket bars to cricket protein powders…without any bug imagery or depictions of insect art on the labels. And although the bars resemble traditional protein bars, the only giveaway is labeling clearing listing "cricket powder" as the main ingredient.

Trying his first "bug" as a marine stationed in Asia, Dave Baugh, likened the experience to eating potato chips.

However, Baugh and his twin brother anticipate having to overcome Western attitudes about bug consumption. While bugs are considered an important food staple and source of protein in most other parts of the world, Westerners in particular cannot seem to get past the feelings associated with eating bugs, which tends to elicit a gagging reaction or mock vomiting.

However, according to research, bug consumption is highly beneficial because bugs are plentiful and rich in protein and other nutrients. According to the research, crickets provide more calcium per gram than milk, more vitamin B12 than salmon, and more iron than spinach.

According to the brothers, cloaking the bugs in a variety of flavors (blueberry, vanilla, banana bread, and dark chocolate brownie) and fashioning them into traditional-looking protein bars may make the idea more...palatable.

Bug consumption has also garnered a lot of attention recently as the latest fad in snacking and for the environmental benefits to be gained from its worldwide consumption (using significantly less resources to produce than the farming methods used to produce cattle — a typical source of protein for westerners).

Would you be willing to incorporate bugs into your diet? Have you eaten bugs before?

Image credit:

Mckay Savage / CC BY 2.0