But that's not all: the unusual supplement will also help "extinguish" allergies.
The new food additive is being developed by ITMO University specialists. In butter, milk and sausages they propose to "mix" chitin powder obtained from locust shells. Scientists are confident that such an exotic component will make cheap products safer.
WHAT IS GOOD FOR AN AFRICAN …
The topic itself is not new - the study of chitin and its, shall we say, gastronomic advantages have been studied in Russia for at least 150 years. And in Europe and the USA, the process has long been firmly put on stream: in North America alone, about 2,500,000 people use dietary supplements based on the shells of insects and sea reptiles.
“At one time, our scientists had an idea to use locusts as a source of protein,” says Alexander Ishevsky, professor at the Faculty of Food Biotechnology and Engineering at ITMO University. - As is done, for example, in African countries, where it is simply dried, pounded into flour and then added to food.
Now chitin is obtained mainly from the shells of shrimp and crabs. Locusts are smaller, but cheaper and easier to breed.
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But it was not possible to transfer the African experience to Russian soil: it turned out that our, domestic locust is smaller, and its shell is harder.
- On the one hand, this is bad, because the chitin, of which the shell is composed, is simply not absorbed by the human body, - continues our interlocutor. - On the other hand, the harder and thicker it is, the more vitamins and microelements it contains.
Now enterprises are converting chitin into chitosan - this substance is absorbed without problems, and therefore is actively used in medicines and in the food industry and even in agriculture.
The African locust is fatter and softer than the Russian locust. But it was too expensive to transport her from the Black Continent.
“But this process has a number of drawbacks,” Ishevsky notes. - Firstly, during the "processing" chitin loses a large proportion of nutrients. Secondly, it is now obtained mainly from the shells of marine crustaceans - shrimp, crabs, some types of crayfish, and so on. And this is quite expensive.
AT THE STAGE OF TESTING
The solution to both problems can be a new development from ITMO: now the university's specialists are trying to make sure that chitin does not lose its useful properties, but at the same time is absorbed by humans. It is not yet clear exactly how to achieve this - the locust shells are proposed, in particular, to be treated with strong acids. But the prospects are seen quite clearly.
- I think, first of all, such an additive could be used in the production of social products, - says our interlocutor. - How, for example, cheap boiled sausage is made? It's very simple - they put chicken or turkey veins and bones with small leftovers of meat under the press. It turns out this kind of paste. And up to 25% of this paste is bone fat, which provokes the appearance of cholesterol plaques. Chitin binds bone fat and then removes it from the body without any problems. And not only bone, by the way, but in principle any fat - it's not for nothing that the same chitosan is used as a means for losing weight.
According to Alexander Ishevsky, the project is still at the testing stage. Chitin supplements will go on the mass sale not earlier than in five years. Photo: ITMO University.
In addition, adds Ishevsky, the new supplement will be able to "extinguish" allergies - and first of all, allergy to lactose. Therefore, in addition to sausages, it is planned to add it to milk and dairy products.
“So far we are at the testing stage,” our interlocutor states. - I think that the first experimental batch of chitin powder will be obtained somewhere in late September - mid-October. Then it will need to be analyzed, industrial trials and clinical studies carried out, permission from the Ministry of Health and SanPin to be obtained, and all the necessary documents collected. Ideally, I think it will all take about five years.
SERGEY VOLCHKOV