Could cockroach milk be our next superfood?
More specifically, milk from Diplotera punctata or the Pacific Beetle Cockroach.
Now, cockroaches do not have udders or nipples to milk each morning, so the study behind all the attention is referring to the milky substance that comes out of mother’s brood sac to feed her babies.
In the egg, the babies get this nourishing milk that is rich in proteins called lipocalin-like milk proteins or Lili-Mip, which turn into a crystal form in their midgut.
So, the researchers sliced open the midgut of the embryos allowing the crystals to spill out, and then analyzed them.
The media largely ran with their conclusion that, “A single crystal is estimated to contain more than three times the energy of an equivalent mass of dairy milk.”
That’s it. There was no evidence or suggestion that cockroach milk is feasible or safe for human consumption, nor that you will soon be picking up a jar at your local health food store, or providing the creamy froth for your next latte.
References
- Banerjee, S., Coussens, N. P., Gallat, F. X., Sathyanarayanan, N., Srikanth, J., Yagi, K. J., ... & Ramaswamy, S. (2016). Structure of a heterogeneous, glycosylated, lipid-bound, in vivo-grown protein crystal at atomic resolution from the viviparous cockroach Diploptera punctata. IUCrJ, 3(4), 282-293.
- Embryo video. http://journals.iucr.org/m/issues/2016/04/00/jt5013/