I've spent the last five weeks working with the BHF CPNP at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford.
I was addressing the question: 'Are commercially available insects 'healthy' compared to meat and meat offal, in both a developed and developing world scenario?'
I'll post a more detailed account of answer at a later date, but for now I can definitely say that a big part of the answer is 'No!' and also 'Insects are too diverse for generalisations about their healthiness or nutritional value'.
In future, I think it'll be important to systematically compare the nutritional content larval and adult stages in commonly consumed insects - I'd guess there would be more nutritional variation between life stages than between species.
For a more comprehensive view of my methods and results please take a look at this page, where you'll find a slideshow on edible insects and public health given at a lunchtime seminar in Oxford last week.
And, since England is home, and I was back for Christmas, here are a few photos taken on Christmas day (spent with my parents in a reformed engine house in Danescombe mine, near Calstock, Cornwall):
I was addressing the question: 'Are commercially available insects 'healthy' compared to meat and meat offal, in both a developed and developing world scenario?'
I'll post a more detailed account of answer at a later date, but for now I can definitely say that a big part of the answer is 'No!' and also 'Insects are too diverse for generalisations about their healthiness or nutritional value'.
In future, I think it'll be important to systematically compare the nutritional content larval and adult stages in commonly consumed insects - I'd guess there would be more nutritional variation between life stages than between species.
For a more comprehensive view of my methods and results please take a look at this page, where you'll find a slideshow on edible insects and public health given at a lunchtime seminar in Oxford last week.
And, since England is home, and I was back for Christmas, here are a few photos taken on Christmas day (spent with my parents in a reformed engine house in Danescombe mine, near Calstock, Cornwall):
 The viaduct at Calstock on Christmas morning |  The forested valley where we were staying (our converted engine house is just visible through the trees) |  A Christmas tree! |
Another from Christmas morning..
…and Christmas evening.
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