The Latest Healthy Superfood, Cockroach Milk. Would You Try It?

A group of international researchers have managed to discover a healthy superfood that is said to be highly nutritious. However, the source of this superfood is likely to make your skin crawl. Say hello to Cockroach milk, which is an excellent source of nutrition and calories.

Sanchari Banerjee, one of the researchers, claims that the milk-like protein crystal produced by the cockroach, Diploptera punctata, are a great source of nutrition. Diplotera is commonly known as the Pacific beetle cockroach. Unlike most cockroaches, the Diplotera is the only known cockroach to produce milk that contains protein crystals which it feeds to its babies.

"The crystals are like a complete food -- they have proteins, fats and sugars. If you look into the protein sequences, they have all the essential amino acids," stated Banerjee in a report by the Times of India

While it may take a lot of convincing for health buffs to try cockroach milk, consuming cockroaches is already a norm in China. In a 2014 report by CNN, American cockroaches have been bred and have been sold to pharmaceutical companies by the ton. These cockroaches are ground and stuffed into pills, which are supposedly a cure for heart, liver, and stomach ailments.

As for cockroach milk, scientist Subramanian Ramaswamy claims it would be the best supplement for protein. For health buffs who need to bulk up their muscles, ditch the chocolate milk and opt for this instead.

"If you need food that is calorifically high, that is time released and food that is complete, this is it," stated Ramaswamy.

The study on cockroach milk had been published on the journal of International Union of Crystallography entitled Structure of a heterogeneous, glycosylated, lipid-bound, in vivo-grown protein crystal at atomic resolution from the viviparous cockroach Diploptera punctate."

With all the benefits packed in cockroach milk, would you dare to try it out?