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Nature & Environment

Cockroach milk: the future's health drink ?

By T.K. Randall
July 26, 2016 · Comment icon 51 comments

Would you drink milk from a cockroach ? Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Thomas Quine
New research suggests that cockroaches produce milk that is three times more nutritious than cow's milk.
It might not sound particularly appetizing, but the 'milk' from one particular sub-species of cockroach is actually chock-full of protein thanks to special crystals that can be found inside its stomach.

"It's time-released food," said senior study author Subramanian Ramaswamy. "If you need food that is calorifically high, that is time released and food that is complete, this is it."
But is it really possible to 'milk' enough cockroaches to feed humanity ?

"They wouldn't go and kill lots of cockroaches for it," said Professor John Carver. "They would isolate the gene for this protein from the cockroach and then express it and grow it up in a yeast system in very large microbiological vats and produce large quantities."

Whether anyone would actually want to drink it however remains to be seen.

Source: SBS.com.au | Comments (51)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #42 Posted by Thorvir Hrothgaard 8 years ago
You bigot.
Comment icon #43 Posted by pallidin 8 years ago
lol...
Comment icon #44 Posted by pallidin 8 years ago
I can just see it now: "In heath food stores near you, cockroach milk"
Comment icon #45 Posted by paperdyer 8 years ago
"A bargain at $100 a gallon.  100% organic! What a value!"
Comment icon #46 Posted by pallidin 8 years ago
Heath Food store customer announcement: "Please proceed to isle 5 for cockroach milk. We also have Tarantula milk and, for THIS week only, milk from a black mamba snake. First come, first served"
Comment icon #47 Posted by Thorvir Hrothgaard 8 years ago
Yeah I'm done.
Comment icon #48 Posted by MJNYC 8 years ago
Thanks, Clair!  And again, I totally agree with you!  TMI and I'd definitely starve.  Ugh! Just the thought makes me squirm. 
Comment icon #49 Posted by Black Red Devil 8 years ago
C'mon man.  Don't you think you're exaggerating a little?  The cockroach crunch with whipped cockroach cream looks alright. And if that doesn't settle you down you can try something a bit more uplifting like a Scorpion Chardonnay, or how bout a Hairy Spider Legs Brandy mixed with King Cobra yolk and Toad intestines.    
Comment icon #50 Posted by trevorjobo 8 years ago
getting milk from a breast was invented in 1900, I'm surprised no one ever thought to use the huge breasts of a cockroach before now, it goes to show how you can see something everyday all day and not notice it like huge breasts on a cockroach, that's why you never see a cockroach running, they have back problems from such heavy breasts they need to sit like every ten seconds, they smoke a lot too.
Comment icon #51 Posted by Frank Merton 8 years ago
These reactions are all a little silly.  There is nothing harmful nor even unpleasant about eating well-prepared cockroaches and beetles and whatnot.  Most people in SE Asia do from time to time like to stop off at a street vendor and have a little snack.  As a source of food they are difficult to obtain much of.  As they are usually served, they are also probably a little more oily than is good for you though.


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