• Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    The bottom ones have delectable white meat inside. The top ones are all brown guts and crispy, musty shell. Nobody is shelling crickets for a worthwhile piece of meat inside like you do a shrimp or a lobster.

    They look similar to bugs, sure. But let’s not pretend it’s the same thing.

    • fidodo@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Sounds to me that the common preparation is to just blend them into a powder at which point they’re just a non descript protein rich powder

        • fidodo@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Well yeah, this would be a poor substitute for meat, but I haven’t really seen it suggested as such, just as another way to introduce protein.

          • Funkytom467@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            In asia the bugs are often put with other condiments, lollipop, spices etc… to make them taste something.

            And they are mostly like snacks. I don’t know any culture that have them take the place of a meat in a dish.

          • evranch@lemmy.ca
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            9 months ago

            We’re pretty close to creating real synthetic milk by means of modified bacterial culture.

            If we can have real milk, cheese, whey protein etc. from cheap feedstock in fermentation vats, I don’t see a single reason why someone would choose bug powder over that as a protein source.

                • Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  A physiologically-significant increase in the rate of muscle protein synthesis requires adequate availability of all amino acid precursors. The source of EAAs for muscle protein synthesis in the post-absorptive state is the free intracellular pool. Intracellular free EAAs that are available for incorporation into protein are derived from muscle protein breakdown. Under normal conditions about 70% of EAAs released by muscle protein breakdown are reincorporated into muscle protein. The efficiency of reincorporation of EAAs from protein breakdown back into muscle protein can only be increased to a limited extent. For this fundamental reason, a dietary supplement of BCAAs alone cannot support an increased rate of muscle protein synthesis. The availability of the other EAAs will rapidly become rate limiting for accelerated protein synthesis. Consistent with this perspective, the few studies in human subjects have reported decreases, rather than increases, in muscle protein synthesis after intake of BCAAs. We conclude that dietary BCAA supplements alone do not promote muscle anabolism.

                  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5568273/

                  EAA - Essential Amino Acids

                  • Celnert
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                    9 months ago

                    I’m still not sure what you are trying to say, milk has all 20 amino acids, both the essential and the BCAAs. The study you linked is on BCAA supplementation alone, not milk

              • evranch@lemmy.ca
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                9 months ago

                Even if that was true, that’s assuming your diet consists of only dairy. No beans, grains, meat, eggs… You could easily say the same for the bug powder.

                However if you’re going to eat a diet based on one thing, make that thing dairy. It does contain all the nutrients required to grow a calf at a massive rate, and a human as well. In my youth I did the GOMAD diet for awhile to put on bulk, and the results were incredible. Milk is close to an optimal food, it evolved to be exactly that.

                • Shenanigore@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  That only works for people of northern European stock, literally evolved to survive a winter on milk and stored potatoes. The rest of us are lactose intolerant for the most part, and besides that, cows milk will literally kill an infant, you need goats milk in that situation.