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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs cockroach milk the superfood of the future?
By BRIAN MASTROIANNI
CBS NEWS
July 27, 2016, 1:42 PM
Will cockroach milk soon be on the menu? A research team based at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India believes that the "milk" from the Pacific beetle cockroach -- the protein-rich crystals that the insects lactate to feed their young -- could make for the next great superfood. Now, maybe you'll think twice before squashing that pesky cockroach in your apartment.
This particular species of cockroach is the only one that gives birth to live young, as opposed to laying eggs. Their "milk" is made up of protein-infused crystals reported to have three times the energy of the equivalent mass of normal dairy milk.
"The crystals are like a complete food -- they have proteins, fats and sugars. If you look into the protein sequences, they have all the essential amino acids," Sanchari Banerjee, one of the main researchers, told the Times of India.
Cockroach milk is not just a wellspring of nutrients, it is also a "time-released food," added lead study author Subramanian Ramaswamy, meaning that once the crystals' protein is digested, more protein continues to be released through the body at a steady rate.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-cockroach-milk-the-superfood-of-the-future/
http://journals.iucr.org/m/issues/2016/04/00/jt5013/index.html
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)boston bean
(36,221 posts)ClairDiamond
(7 posts)it may be the only thing we can eat!
Solly Mack
(90,771 posts)That said...interesting.
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Solly Mack
(90,771 posts)Cockroach milker!
GaYellowDawg
(4,447 posts)Solly Mack
(90,771 posts)GaYellowDawg
(4,447 posts)Solly Mack
(90,771 posts)Feeding the world is more than they could ever do, making the Pacific Beetle Cockroach far superior in character and value.
imanamerican63
(13,798 posts)sl8
(13,787 posts)angstlessk
(11,862 posts)It conjures up quite an image
Solly Mack
(90,771 posts)vdogg
(1,384 posts)I will quit drinking coffee the minute this becomes a thing. Absolutely fucking no. Nope nope nope nope nope!!!@
eppur_se_muova
(36,269 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,370 posts)JI7
(89,252 posts)SCantiGOP
(13,871 posts)You get a second bottle free - just pay extra shipping and handling.
3catwoman3
(24,006 posts)...superb weight loss program for me.
Hell, nooooooooooooooooo!
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Use their excrement for fertilizer. If their milk is that potent, their shit should be pretty bad ass as well. And when they're all used up? Grind them and turn them into flour.
Feed the world.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Well, that sure beats having to do it by hand.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Tiny, matchbox-sized barns.
Tiny milking machines shouldn't be a problem. I read in a science fiction book once about building machines that build smaller machines that build smaller machines that build smaller machines... and so on.
Hookin' 'em up? Different story I guess! Tiny teats!
I wanna be a cockroach farmer!
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Arkana
(24,347 posts)Takket
(21,577 posts)I'll be over here with my cow's milk, thank you very much
synergie
(1,901 posts)Lancero
(3,003 posts)Back in the past Lobster was considered a bad catch, only good for fertalizer and bait, and eating it was considered a mark of poverty. The only widespread use of it for food was to feed prisoners because, well... People didn't think that they deserved 'quality' food.
Now, it's considered to be a good food source and depending upon the area and type of preperation it ranges between a middle to upper class food. (Hilariously though, it's actually the middle-class priced lobster that'd be the best - New-shell can't be safely shipped out so it has to be used locally.)
So yeah, given that undesirable food has changed to be desirable, or at the least tolerated, in the past I wouldn't dismiss this claim completely out of hand.
sarae
(3,284 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)What the hell are they thinking???
Solly Mack
(90,771 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)GaYellowDawg
(4,447 posts)HATE them. I lived in Savannah for three years, and I was in an old house (i.e., plenty of places for vermin to enter) and the property was right beside a drainage ditch and there were lots of trees around. So of course I had a constant battle with cockroaches. Didn't matter how clean I kept the place, they were ALWAYS around. And they weren't just any cockroaches. They were the big armored beasts. I called them tankroaches. There were three animals that always were around the house. Tankroaches. Fruit flies (which I couldn't get rid of until I poured bleach down every drain in the house). And for some reason, frogs turned up in my mailbox at least twice a week. I'd open the mailbox and one would leap out. About a quarter of the time, the frog would land straight on my face. But you know what the terrible thing was? The cockroaches were three times the size of the frogs. Even though they were tiny frogs and therefore cute as hell, and I always viewed them landing on my face as just trying to hug me, still. Huge tankroaches.
So yuck. Superfood? I say super HELL NO. If I had a choice between cockroach milk and dying, fit me for a casket.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Tastes like chicken.
I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.
dembotoz
(16,808 posts)gnc will mark it up a brazillion percent and sell it by the vat