Comparison of Healthfulness of Conventional Meats and Edible Insects in Sub‑Saharan Africa Using Three Nutrient Profiling Models
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Date
2022
Authors
Weru, Johnson
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Bulletin of the National Research Centre
Abstract
Background: Meat and meat products have been blamed for a myriad of problems facing human kind like lifestyle
illnesses, environmental degradation, and climate change. Edible insects have been suggested as the suitable
alternatives to conventional meats in order to ameliorate these drawbacks. Healthfulness is the ability for a given food
to impart health benefits to the consumer. Evidence is however scanty on the healthfulness of both the meats and
edible insects in order to have grounds for replacing meats with insects in the diet. This study aimed to comparatively
evaluate the healthfulness of meats and edible insects in Sub-Saharan Africa using modern nutrient profiling models.
Materials and methods: Nutritional data for meats and edible insects were obtained from Food Composition Tables
(FCTs) and a systematic review, respectively. The data was applied to three nutrient profiling models: the WXYfm
(Ofcom) model that was designed to regulate advertising of foods to children, the RRR (Ratio of Recommended to
Restricted) model that assesses the ratio of positive to negative nutrients in foods, and the GDA (Guideline Daily
Amounts) model which has been used to regulate health claims on foods. Tukey’s Studentized Range (HSD) Test (The
SAS System) was used to check for significance in differences of healthfulness using mean scores.
Results: The WXYfm model classified all foods as healthful, and Nasutitermes spp. was significantly more healthful
than duck (P = 0.05). The RRR classified all foods as healthful, and Nasutitermes spp. was significantly more healthful
than all other foods except Macrotermes bellicosus and tilapia (P = 0.05). Duck (for women and men) and pork (for
women), were classified as unhealthful by the GDA scoring system, and duck was significantly less healthful than all
other foods (P < 0.0001), except for pork and mutton.
Conclusion: Edible insects are promising alternatives to conventional meats, but the choice should be on a speciesto-
species basis. This would be significant in broadening the choice of protein sources to cater for an ever-increasing
world population.
Description
article
Keywords
Meat, Edible insects, Healthfulness, Nutrient profiling, Scores
Citation
Weru, J., Chege, P., Wanjoya, A., & Kinyuru, J. (2022). Comparison of healthfulness of conventional meats and edible insects in Sub-Saharan Africa using three nutrient profiling models. Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 46(1), 1-14.