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Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

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Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

#231

Post by wonderwonder »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #184
nivertech wrote: post #109

Larger animals can be inspected individually to find pathogens or diseases. Insects are so small that it's practically impossible to inspect each individual organism. You can do sampling of the batch, but the odds of missing bad ones are still high. Same with the fruits and vegetables, some are easy to inspect, others are almost impossible, or impossible to clean. There are kosher (insect-free) versions of lettuce an…

Insects and crustaceans (shrimps, lobsters, etc.) are closely related; I always joke that shrimps are just under water bugs. Lots of people that are disgusted by one, enjoy eating the other. Disgust is mostly cultural and learned. Obviously, some of our gag reflexes are about detecting things that are bad. Like rotting meat or things that have gone off. But then we ferment and rot lots of things intentionally and the…

This is exactly why I don't eat shell fish. I have always thought they look like underwater bugs and the thought of eating them is revolting. I am fine with others eating whatever they want, and my wife eats them but its just not for me.

Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

#233

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

tommit wrote: post #193
washbrain wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it was challenging before, but honestly, getting enough iron and protein in a vegan diet today is pretty trivial. There are plant based alternatives to more or less everything these days. I'm vegetarian,, and only for 3 or 4 years, but honestly there's nothing really missing at all for me.

On every HN thread about meat there are people claiming they know dozens of people that nearly died because they stopped eating meat, completely neglecting that there are entire cultures that eat pretty much no meat[0]. Or the fact that there are numerous studies about how we eat too much meat and how it affects our health[1]. Sorry, I just don't believe it. Or my experience is just vastly different, because nobody I…

> The only explanation I have is that people are scared to lose their burgers.

How about "biodiversity"?

and/or: Different ethnicities evolved under different conditions?

Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

#234

Post by sumo89 »

As an owner of a reptile this study has another angle for me. The insects tested are all classic reptile food and aside from some creatures being illegal to import or breed the production and selling of edible insects for animals seems pretty unregulated. Every producer claims their bugs are all parasite free so seeing ~80% actually do have parasites is alarming.

Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

#236

Post by sidkshatriya »

nivertech wrote: post #209
jillesvangurp wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insects and crustaceans (shrimps, lobsters, etc.) are closely related; I always joke that shrimps are just under water bugs. Lots of people that are disgusted by one, enjoy eating the other. Disgust is mostly cultural and learned. Obviously, some of our gag reflexes are about detecting things that are bad. Like rotting meat or things that have gone off. But then we ferment and rot lots of things intentionally and the…

> Insects and crustaceans (shrimps, lobsters, etc.) are closely related ... One important difference: salt-water animals (including crustaceans) harbor parasites which are less compatible with humans, for them humans are dead-end, they can't close the complex reproduction cycle. Land insects and fresh-water crustaceans (e.g. crayfish) are much more dangerous for humans. Lobster sashimi is much safer than eating a raw…

> One important difference: salt-water animals (including crustaceans) harbor parasites which are less compatible with humans, for them humans are dead-end, they can't close the complex reproduction cycle. Land insects and fresh-water crustaceans (e.g. crayfish) are much more dangerous for humans.

Nice point. The flip side is that with land based insects the parasites can close the cycle with humans/mammals and hence insect consumption can be more risky.

(Parent comment) > if you eat fresh produce from your garden, there are likely to come some small critters along with that.

Eating food with the occasional insect that has gotten through (e.g in a vegetable or salad) will not be as risky as eating large amounts of insect mass. The probability of then getting a parasite or disease then will be much higher. Its just mathematics.

Why increase your risk probability?

Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

#237

Post by Oarch »

PostOnce wrote: post #208
pb060 wrote: post #79

Insects are the food of the future. So glad to live in the present.

We'll all live in megacorp apartments eating crickets and own nothing but subscribe to everything.

This terrifies me. The build to rent sector is absolutely exploding here in the UK.

Feudalism here we come!

Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

#239

Post by helpfulmandrill »

comradesmith wrote: post #134
nivertech wrote: post #109

Larger animals can be inspected individually to find pathogens or diseases. Insects are so small that it's practically impossible to inspect each individual organism. You can do sampling of the batch, but the odds of missing bad ones are still high. Same with the fruits and vegetables, some are easy to inspect, others are almost impossible, or impossible to clean. There are kosher (insect-free) versions of lettuce an…

Now my mind is wondering if insects could be a source and transmitter of prion diseases. Perhaps the proteins in bugs don’t line up with humans though.

Why would this be any more likely than other animals?

Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)

#240

Post by adrianN »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #195
hsn915 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lastly, disgust is a part of the human immune system. This is the most important bit. Too many "rationalists" who otherwise preach evolution all the time forget to notice that our sense of disgust is also evolved just like everything about us for the purpose of survival and reproduction and is not just some annoying irrational quirk that gets in the way of doing the right thing.

I thought the generally accepted science was that humans can learn disgust reactions socially, so that they are more adaptable on a non-evolutionary timescale. > The disgust system is a psychological mechanism for producing pathogen avoidant behaviour [10–12]. In previous work, we have stressed the universality of disgust, showing that there is much that is similar about disgust responses between animals and humans,…

I didn't eat scrambled eggs for ten years or so after once choking on a forkful when I was around seven years old because I found them absolutely disgusting.
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