The milk of cockroaches has recently been touted as a superfood due to its nutritional and health benefits. Yes, we’re entering a new era. Are you sure you want to go?
What is cockroach juice, exactly?
- Cockroach juice is said to be a superfood loaded with all the good stuff
- It can help to fight diseases
- It can be used as a dietary supplement
An explanation of cockroach milk is provided in this article, as well as potential benefits and downsides.
What is Cockroach Juice?
Milk from cockroaches is a protein-rich, crystalline substance found in cockroaches. This milk can only be found in the Diploptera punctata type of cockroach.
A unique characteristic of this species is that it produces live offspring (we went into a deep dive about roach reproduction here). The members produce protein crystals as “milk” for their developing young.
During the last few years, researchers have found that crystalline matter contains a wide array of nutrients and is a complete food containing protein, carbohydrates, and fats.
The milk of cockroaches is also considered a complete source of protein, providing all nine essential amino acids. These are the components of protein found only in food.
It is important to know that non-meat foods lack more than a couple of the nine essential amino acids. This makes cockroach milk a potentially-appealing non-dairy beverage.Â
However, it is currently labor-intensive to harvest this milk-like substance. In order to do so, you will have to kill a female cockroach along with her embryos by killing them once they have begun to produce milk.
Once that is done, the crystals must be extracted from the gut, a painstaking process.
Can Cockroach Juice Be Beneficial?
1. A Bucket Full of Nutrition
 Despite its disgusting appearance, research has shown that the milk of cockroaches is comparable to human milk in terms of nutritional value. In some cases, it is even considered to have a higher nutritional value, as it boasts three grams of protein each ounce.
Due to this, cockroaches can be grown for milk production, but it isn’t worthwhile. More resources would be required, and the amount produced would be small.
2. It May Be Possible To Fight Disease With Cockroach Milk
Cockroach milk is said to help fight diseases because it contains immunoglobulins. Several studies have been conducted on the substance and found it is beneficial in treating asthma, cancer, and obesity.
In addition, due to its ability to increase IgA secretion, it can also aid allergy recovery.
Several studies have been conducted on the substance and found it is beneficial in treating asthma, cancer, and obesity.
3. Dietary Supplementation with Cockroach Milk is Possible
The benefits of Cockroach Milk are also being studied in lab rats with diabetes. As much as 34% of glucose tolerance was increased by the substance. As a result, Cockroach Milk can have a lot of beneficial effects on different diseases, including diabetes type 1 and diabetes type 2.
Based on the results, the milk of the cockroaches may be useful as a dietary supplement.
Does Cockroach Juice Have Any Downsides?
Despite being an interesting non-dairy milk alternative, it has several disadvantages.
Cockroach milk could make you gain weight if you consume too much, it is nutrient-packed.
Furthermore, no research has demonstrated that cockroach milk is safe to consume. Therefore, it should not be consumed by pregnant women and children, and anyone concerned about… well… insect milk.Â
A further disadvantage of cockroach milk is that it is not ethically sound. In the study of cockroach juice, according to one researcher, it would take thousands of roaches to make just one “serving”.
Cockroaches are weird, alien creatures that can handle high radiation environments and can live without a head for quite a while. They’re… not like most other animals.
The cost of producing cockroach milk is currently high, and its affordability is unlikely to improve since it is difficult to produce. In addition, cockroach milk would also be unappealing to many people.
Is It Possible to Buy Milk Made From Cockroaches?
There are certainly companies and labs working on roach milk, and exploring the idea of commercializing it. But as of publishing, there are no major companies producing roach milk for sale.
On a commercial scale, cockroach milk is not feasible at the moment. The scale is daunting, and aside from the weird curiosity factor, it’s gonna be a hard sell.
So far, cockroach milk isn’t available to humans. However, if cockroach milk becomes the next edible insect trend, it could be a big hit.
It may be possible we might see cockroach juice in supplement form, but it is highly unlikely.
Conclusion
The idea of consuming cockroach juice may seem unappealing, but remember they used to only serve lobsters to prisoners, and now lobster is considered one of the greatest delicacies in the world.
Tastes change, and the ideas of what should be consumed change over time.
Who knows, Roach Juice could become a superfood in the near future due to the benefits it has. Additionally, it is being tested as an ingredient in baby formula, allowing you to take advantage of all its health benefits right away!
For us, we’ll stick to water.
