Nutritional Composition of Edible Insects in Lagos State

Abstract

The nutritional values of edible insects are highly variable because of the wide variety of species. Even within the same group of edible insect species, values may differ depending on the metamorphic stage of the insect (particularly holometabolous species), their habitat and diet. This study was assessed to determine the nutritional composition of the three prominent edible insects consumed in Lagos State. The choice of the University of Lagos as a study site for administering of questionnaire was based on the fact that the university is open to large population of people. Majority of the University of Lagos community are aware that the insects are edible (87%) while 55% have actually consumed it. The edible insects African palm weevil, red palm weevil and pallid emperor moth caterpillar analyzed for their nutritional content indicate they are high in protein with 40.55%, 54.57% and 58.54% while the fat content were 22.3%, 18.13% and 10.33%, respectively. Red palm weevil larvae has the highest protein composition (58.54%) and African palm weevil larvae has the least (40.55%) whereas the African palm weevil has the highest fat content of 22.30% while the red palm weevil larvae has the least fat content of 10.33%. This study shows that these edible insect species though tree pests are highly nutritive and can serve as alternate protein source for the growing population of Lagos State.