How Edible Insects Could Save the World

Edible insects are attracting global attention as a "superfood."

Delicious!

I didn't like the way it looked, but I thought it was edible.

In the United States, insect food parties are being held, while in France, you can find sweets topped with insects.

Even in Japan, there's a secret craze!

Delicious!

Interest in eating insects was sparked by a 2013 report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

It pointed out that by 2050 there will be severe food shortages, and that the environmental impact of livestock production will also increase.

It suggested that eating insects might be one way to solve those problems.

But why insects?

Insects are actually highly nutritious, and can provide protein in a very eco-friendly way.

Scientists are also paying close attention to their potential.

The possibilities for insects are endless.

Insects will save the world.

Today we're going to explore the fascinating world of edible insects, which might safeguard our future.

Welcome to Science View. I'm your host, Tomoko Tina Kimura.

Today's topic is "edible insects."

Although it's difficult for me to look at insects and say ‘they look delicious,' I've always been very interested in the possibility that they could be a sustainable food source.

Joining us again today is Mr. David Hajime Kornhauser, Director of Kyoto University's Office of Global Communications.

Mr. Kornhauser, thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Now I've heard that interest in eating insects is growing all over the world.

Well, there actually used to be areas in Japan where eating insects was common.

They were easily available and highly nutritious.

About 100 years ago, there were about 55 kinds of edible insects.

But then the numbers declined.

So insects were a food source that was familiar to Japanese people.

Nowadays, the interest in eating insects is causing a stir.

Let's explore this surprising world.

3,2,1.

This is a fitness studio that opened in Shibuya in 2021.

Next door, there is an insect restaurant.

This is gapao rice topped with silkworm pupae.

It's highly recommended.

Dried crickets are used to garnish soups, and salads are topped with insects called superworms.

It's also popular with the gym instructors.

The reason...?

You can eat high protein meals.

Yes, insects contain a high amount of protein, which is essential for building muscle.

For example, topping this gapao rice with insects adds an extra 3 grams of protein!

That's the equivalent to about one and a half slices of ham.

So how do insects produce protein?

The method varies from insect to insect.

Let's have a look at the surprising strategies of these insects, which hold great potential as a food source.

To spin their cocoons, silkworm larvae produce silk thread, which is made of protein.

An enzyme called GOGAT is crucial in the production of the silk protein.

When food is broken down in the silkworm's body, a toxin called ammonia is produced.

It is usually detoxified and excreted as uric acid.

GOGAT works on the ammonia to transform it into glutamic acid.

That's what the protein is made from in the end.

This GOGAT enzyme has been found to be particularly abundant in silkworms, compared to other insects.

This is believed to be the result of selection and crossbreeding of silkworms that produce large cocoons, which humans have done since ancient times.

Next, we'll have a look at termites.

They are well-known as pests that devour wood.

Termites are said to be the most abundant insect on Earth, and are an important source of protein for animals.

In fact, some termites can produce proteins from the air!

How is that possible!?

A one-celled organism called a protist lives in symbiosis in part of their intestines.

Inside the protist, there are various bacteria.

These bacteria synthesize amino acids from nitrogen in the air.

The termites absorb the amino acids and produce protein.

Thanks to these super-bacteria, termites can produce protein without having to get it from food.

Lastly, migratory locusts.

They build up protein in a very different way.

Locusts have the greatest physical ability in the insect world.

They can jump 20 times their body length of 6 centimeters.

Looking inside the body with a CT scan...

The red parts are muscles, which are tightly packed around the hind legs and the winged chest.

A lot of protein is required to build this much muscle.

Therefore...

This is the house where we keep the migratory locusts.

At this locust farm, we were shown how they make protein.

The locusts' strategy is to get protein from food.

However, their staple foods are in the grass family, and are low in protein.

So how exactly do they make protein?

Eating, eating, and eating some more!

There are no more leaves to eat.
Only the stems are left.

In fact, locusts are really big eaters.

During their growth period, they eat three times their body weight in a single day.

That's like a growing child weighing 50 kilograms eating 150 kilograms a day!

Locusts use this heavy eating strategy to build up their protein reserves.

It's still hard for me to look at them as a food source..., but the video showed us how each insect has its own way of making protein.

Insects are very diverse creatures.

Each insect has its own strategy, suited to different environments.

Their bodies have developed to synthesize proteins and the amino acids that make up proteins.

And protein is their most abundant nutrient?

Yes, they are basically high in protein, but also contain minerals such as zinc, iron, calcium, and magnesium, as well as unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins.

They are very low in carbohydrates, so they are essentially a healthy food.

I understand.

That certainly makes them very nutritious.

That's right.

For example, the migratory locust is rich in an omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid.

Omega-3 is also known for its preventive effect against dementia, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

And locusts can jump up to 100 kilometers a day.

They store nutrients in a tissue called the "fat body," and use them when they jump.

As you all know now, insects ARE highly nutritious, and they're already helping to save the world.

Laos is a country in Southeast Asia.

A survey conducted in rural areas found that one-third of children were of short stature due to malnutrition.

They had enough calories and protein, but lacked minerals, vitamins, and fats.

Raising palm weevils was proposed to address this issue.

The palm weevil larva is about 60% fat.

And it's an insect that is suited to this region.

Rearing them is relatively easy.

They can be raised in a single tub, and are ready to eat in about 5 weeks.

They have a good taste, and are popular among the children.

The cultivation of potatoes, which serve as food for the weevils, is also underway in the village.

Insect farming is a new experiment in this area.

Increasing production will not only provide food
but also a new source of income for the village.

Research is underway to increase the efficiency of insect production, which is key to developing insect farming.

This is the laboratory of Dr. Takeshi SUZUKI, at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

Asian crickets are being used in this research.

The research is focusing on the food they are given.

It's cassava leaf powder, something that's often thrown away in Southeast Asia.

Crickets are omnivorous,
so they eat both animal and plant matter.

Taking advantage of their omnivorous nature, they can be fed with "food waste."

In other words, things that are edible but thrown away.

In fact, most of the crickets that are currently being raised in Southeast Asia and elsewhere are fed with poultry feed.

If they could be fed with food waste, the cost of feed would be lowered, and waste would be reduced.

Suzuki's lab is examining the growth rate of the crickets when fed with different kinds of feed.

It was found that they do grow when eating food waste, but at a slower rate than poultry feed.

However, when they were fed a combination of bran, wheat bran, and soy pulp, the growth rate was closer to poultry feed.

The establishment of an efficient production method would benefit insect farming around the world.

We just saw that there are regions that depend on insects as a source of nutrition.

Yes. It's amazing that insects can provide the nutrition that people in some regions are lacking.

Yes, it is.

And with regards to environmental impact, according to one study, it only takes 500 milliliters of water to raise about 500 crickets from incubation to adulthood.

500 milliliters... that's the equivalent of just one plastic bottle!

Exactly. Have a look at this data too.

This is a comparison between insects and livestock.

For example, compared to cattle, crickets need 77 times less water, and 5 times less food.

Furthermore, the greenhouse gas emissions from breeding crickets are 1,780 times lower.

Wow. Insects are clearly better in terms of farming environment and cost.

But there are still challenges when it comes to making insects a suitable food source for everyone.

Research is looking to the future to solve such problems.

At Tokushima University, research on the two-spotted cricket has been conducted for more than 30 years.

Utilizing this expertise, scientists there embarked on research into edible crickets in 2016.

Now, they are leading the way in taking on the challenge of...

Crickets have the same allergens as shrimp and crabs.

Unless we remove them,
not everyone will be able to eat crickets.

This is selective breeding to create allergen-free crickets.

It uses genome editing technology.

Genome editing is a technology that targets and cuts specific areas of DNA to alter the original properties of an organism.

At the lab, the scientists inject the editing enzyme into each fertilized cricket egg.

Genome editing can turn specific genes on or off.

To begin with, they worked on changing a cricket's eye color, which is relatively easy to manipulate.

There is a pigment in the eye that changes its color from red to black.

The scientists deactivated the gene that makes it black.

It was a success.

A red-eyed cricket was born.

However, removing allergens is not so easy.

The protein responsible is called tropomyosin.

The scientists have already figured out where the amino acid sequence needs to be changed.

However, tropomyosin itself is an important substance for survival.

To preserve its original function, they must only change the precisely targeted area.

Their first goal is to reduce the number of allergens.

In order to make crickets that everyone can eat, research is steadily advancing, one step at a time.

I didn't realize this, but creating allergen-free insects is actually an important step for insects to become a major food source.

Right. At the moment, there is a great deal of debate on edible insects in Europe.

So far, mealworms, locusts and crickets have been approved as foods for humans.

It seems that similar discussions have started in Japan, and rules are being developed.

Laying out the rules is certainly necessary to realize insects as a sustainable food source for the human race.

Mr. Kornhauser, thank you very much for your time today.

You're very welcome.

Our next topic is about a device that supports people who have difficulty communicating through speech, such as due to neurological intractable diseases.

This device is attracting attention due to its innovative approach.

How exactly does it work? Our reporter Michelle will take us on a closer look.

Hi, I'm Michelle!

Communication devices were developed for patients with limitations caused by different types of illness or injury.

However, many of these devices have been inconvenient or difficult to operate.

Today, we'll visit an innovator whose passion led to a significant improvement!

Hello! I'm Michelle Yamamoto.

Hello. I'm Uda. Thank you for coming.

Thank you for having us.

This is today's Takumi or innovator, UDA Takenobu.

Is this the communication device that you developed?
At a glance, it looks like an ordinary computer.

Yes, this is it.

This is a device that allows users to enter characters and communicate using only their eyesight.

On the screen, Japanese syllabaries are lined up.

For example, if you want to type the word "yes" in Japanese...

You look at the character "ha," then the character "I."

Then, the characters you gazed at will be displayed on the screen.

I also had a chance to experience it.

First, we must teach the device
the properties of your eyes.

The movements of the user's eyes are captured by the pre-existing eye tracking system.

Inside the system is a camera and a device that generates infrared rays.

The infrared rays hit the eyes and are reflected back.

This one was made for a test run
before the current product was built.

This one has a commonly used program built inside.

Let's try typing "Thank you" in Japanese.

Here is the part you need to look at.

I can't keep my eyesight stable.
This is difficult.

I can't get to the area I need to look at.

Next, we'll try the device developed by Uda.

Wow, it's easy!

"Ri" Look at the character "Ka" twice.

I did it!

You enter the text as you scroll through the screen with your eyes.

You can see that the letters are being entered more quickly and accurately.

Uda conducted extensive research to obtain this comfortable operation.

But why did he decide to create a communication device?

Uda was originally a financial systems engineer.

He wanted to develop some kind of new business.

One day, he attended a meeting of patients with intractable diseases.

There, he heard about a communication tool used by people who have difficulty speaking.

He learned that users found some inconvenience with the device.

This led him to development.

Since it was a little inconvenient, I decided to create something more
sophisticated and easier to use.

Uda developed this product for comfortable operation.

What was his approach?

We support text input by using past data to predict how the user's sight might be shaking.

It's tracking and auto correcting my gaze?

Yes, that's right.

One of the features of this product is that
it operates while making predictions about where the eyes are likely to look.

This is a visual representation of the gaze read by the eye tracker.

The crosses are focal points.

We are trying to type the character "hi."

Yet, the eye's gaze wavers and is not fixed.

Before, the number of "crosses" was used to estimate the user's gaze.

However, depending on where the crosses are, the device would get lost, making it difficult to identify the right location.

Uda then programmed the order in which the user looked.

By indicating the order in which the user looked at the machine, he made it possible to predict and assign the desired location more precisely.

He also incorporated other innovative technologies, such as making it possible to input data without placing the device directly in front of the user.

This system, developed by Uda, is currently in use at 20 locations throughout Japan.

We asked a person who uses the device how it feels to use it.

I can't move my body at all,
so I can't communicate anything unless I use this communication device
developed by Mr. Uda.

It would be really hard to live without it.

I really feel that the product was made from
the user's and caregiver's point of view.

Eight years of developing the communication device.

Uda has continued to improve it year after year.

Rather than a communication device, I'd like it to become a tool that
helps patients function better.

Uda's research continues as he aims for a more useful communication device.

This amazing communication device combines convenience and easy operability.

Besides helping ALS patients communicate with their families and caregivers, it's now also being used in their workplace.

And that's all for this week's Science View.

Thank you so much for joining us, and please stay tuned for our next episode.