Page 40 - FoodFocusThailand No.174 September 2020

SPECIAL FOCUS
SPECIAL FOCUS
In 2050, the world population is
expected to reach 9.7 billion people.
With the rapid growth of cities,
food resource, especially protein
source from livestock, are likely to be
insufficient due to highly consumption
demand. Edible insect could be an
answer for alternative future protein
source. Edible insect rearing requires
little feed, water, and agricultural land.
The emission of greenhouse gas is
relatively low, compared with other
livestock. Therefore, edible insect is
regarded as a potential future protein
source for human consumption.

Insect Protein

Hydrolysate:

The Next Step of Insect for Future Foods

Shall We Eat Insect? Health Benefits of Insect Protein Hydrolysate
Consumption of edible insect, for instance crickets, silkworm or beetle, There are numerous researches indicating insect protein hydrolysate
is acceptable for some people; however, its appearance can make it still with diverse bioactivities, for instance, antioxidant, anti-hypertensive,
difficult for many people. For this reason, insects are processed into anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, and lower risk of cancer. However,
powder and incorporated in various food products, for example, pasta, the study is still in in vitro level and required further investigation. The
noodle, bakery products, energy bar, etc. in order to increase protein examples of reported bioactivities of insect protein are followings;
content. Besides protein-rich source, insect is also a source of valued • Antioxidant Activity; Protein hydrolysates from silkworm, cricket
nutrients including essential amino acids and fatty acids, vitamin B12, and grasshopper showed antioxidant properties which could lower
folic, minerals and so on. risks of cancer development.
• Anti-hypertensive Activity; Insect protein hydrolysate from
Limitation of Insect Powder crickets, silkworm and mealworm larvae could inhibit the activity of
The limitation of insect powder is solubility in water which is only 30%, angiotensin-converting enzyme which is the cause of hypertension
thus insect powder is mostly applied in solid foods. To overcome this and heart disease.
limitation, insect protein powder is transformed into insect protein • Anti-diabetic Activity; In vitro study showed that silkworm
hydrolysate, which is water-soluble and can be applied in various food protein hydrolysate treated with enzyme and enzyme that inhibits
1
products, particularly water-based foods. As a result of protein hydrolysate α-glucosidase enzyme . Ser-Gln-Ser-Pro-Ala is indicated to be the
2
application, consumer can easier accept food product-containing insects most potential peptide sequence for α-glucosidase inhibition.
and pay more attention to insect protein. • Anti-inflammatory Activity: Protein
hydrolysate from silkworm reduced the
What is Protein Hydrolysate? production of nitric oxide which is the key pro-
Protein hydrolysate is prepared by hydrolyzing protein into inflammatory mediator secreted from immune
small peptides resulting in changing of protein properties cells.
such as water solubility and foaming ability. From the above mentioned functional and
Generally, protein hydrolysate can be prepared using biological properties of insect protein
enzymatic and chemical treatment. hydrolysates, it is highly possible to apply in
1. Enzymatic treatment is the use of protease to cleave various kinds of food products, such as solid
peptide bonds in protein molecules into small peptides. foods, protein drinks and high-protein gel, etc.
2. Chemical process, acidic or basic condition is With environmental issues and limitation of
applied, couple with heat treatment, in order to denature natural resources more severely in the future,
and cleave protein chains. insect protein is, therefore, of interest to be an
An example of insect protein hydrolysate production answer for food security and sustainability.
is from mealworm larvae, in which the water solubility
increased up to 89.2%.

40 FOOD FOCUS THAILAND SEP 2020

25/8/2563 BE 12:02
38-40_Special Focus_Wasaporn.indd 40
38-40_Special Focus_Wasaporn.indd 40 25/8/2563 BE 12:02