Fact check: eat ze bugs, kids!

Yes it’s true

https://www.news.com.au/national/snacks-containing-bugs-have-been-introduced-to-1000-school-canteens-across-the-country/video/f2b1b572d243ea40d3d3dab7e3a8dded

They’ve already started feeding insects to kids in Australia. Eat ze bugs kids!

Crickets, which are kosher, is what John the Baptist ate¹ - along with wild honey - he seems to have been healthy (but of course he died young but that was not because of a health problem²) but meal worms seem more worrying…

Chitin is an fibre in crickets and other insects that we can’t digest. Apparently chitin lowers tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) which is touted as a good thing in some articles; the conclusion is not so positive in the study itself where it says more research is needed:

Cricket powder supported growth of the probiotic bacterium, Bifidobacterium animalis, which increased 5.7-fold. Cricket consumption was also associated with reduced plasma TNF-α. These data suggest that eating crickets may improve gut health and reduce systemic inflammation; however, more research is needed to understand these effects and underlying mechanisms.

I’m surmising their uncertain conclusion is because TNFα signals our bodies to fight cancer. In this article from eatcrickster.com it says lowering TNFα is good because if the levels are too high our bodies might be fighting a non existent threat.

Of course if TNFα levels are just right, which I assume they would be in kids, lowering them means you are impeding the body’s ability to fight cancer, so it might not always be that good a thing.

This fact check article is journalism - for medical advice find a Doctor who follows the Hippocratic Oath!

1. Mark 1: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”

In the wilderness John the baptizer began preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem were going out to him, and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. John wore a garment made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “One more powerful than I am is coming after me; I am not worthy to bend down and untie the strap of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

2. Matthew chapter 14: When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus, he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why he can do such miracles.”

For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.”Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.

But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. So John was beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.

As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.