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The next big craze could be cockroach milk, according to a recent study conducted in India.
The term milk is banded about pretty loosely these days and as more and more people look for healthy milk alternatives, a team at India’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine say they’ve made an interesting discovery concerning cockroaches.
Scientists researching the Pacific beetle cockroach – which produces milk when it gives birth to offspring – say they have discovered that the insect produces a protein–rich milk that offers three times the calorific energy of other milks.
Why is this important? Well, no one is suggesting we start a cockroach milk farm, they produce minuscule amounts of milk, but the biologists involved in the study believe that the milk could one day be artificially synthesised, offering an easy source of protein for the future.
The discovery was actually a small part of their research – understanding how to sequence the genes responsible for producing the milk inside the insect’s gut is actually the main focus, as this would allow for large scale production of the milk.
The full study, published in the International Union of Crystallograph, has forced many to question if they would consume such a thing. Would you?
