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Zinc absorption from maize-based meals enriched with edible house crickets: a randomized crossover stable-isotope study in Kenyan pre-school children
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Zinc absorption from maize-based meals enriched with edible house crickets: a randomized crossover stable-isotope study in Kenyan pre-school children
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Zinc absorption from maize-based meals enriched with edible house crickets: a randomized crossover stable-isotope study in Kenyan pre-school children
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Journal Article
Zinc absorption from maize-based meals enriched with edible house crickets: a randomized crossover stable-isotope study in Kenyan pre-school children
2025
Overview
Edible insects have been proposed as a novel and sustainable source of protein and other essential nutrients for human consumption but nutrient absorption efficiency is still uncertain. We investigated zinc absorption from house crickets (
Acheta domesticus
) in a single-center and single-blinded cross-over study with children aged 24–36 months old in Kenya from September-November 2021. For this, children were randomized to consume two different experimental meals labeled with stable isotopes of zinc (Zn) at two different days, separated by a wash-out period of one month. Primary endpoints were the differences in amount of absorbed zinc (AZ) from maize-based meals enriched with intrinsically
67
Zn-labeled house crickets (2.61 mg Zn,
n
= 28) in comparison with meals enriched with
68
Zn (low-enriched: 0.90 mg Zn,
n
= 29); high-enriched: 3.24 mg Zn,
n
= 28) or with intrinsically
67
Zn-labeled low-chitin cricket flour (2.51 mg Zn,
n
= 25), whereas the secondary endpoints were the differences in fractional zinc absorption. We found that AZ from meals with whole crickets (geometric mean: 0.36 mg; 95%CI: 0.30, 0.43) was 2.6 times higher than from low-enriched maize meals (0.14 mg; 0.11, 0.16;
P
<
0.001
), while it was not different from low-chitin cricket flour meals. Absorbed zinc from both cricket meals was higher than that from high-enriched meals. No severe adverse side events were reported. We conclude that edible house crickets are a good source of well-absorbable zinc, and their increased consumption could contribute to the alleviation of zinc deficiency. This trial was registered at the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry as PACTR202104533831364.
Zinc deficiency can impair child growth and development, and edible insects contain substantial amount of zinc. Here the authors report that edible house crickets are a source of well-absorbable zinc in a randomized crossover clinical trial in Kenyan children aged 24–36 months.
