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Mealworm-fiber
Their benefits in pet food applications
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by Bénédicte Lorrette, Animal Nutrition & Health R&D Director and Lorena Sanchez, Scientific Project Manager, Sprÿng, France
hat you feed your pet has a direct impact on their health. It is important to provide them with what they need and want. The key is having a well-rounded, balanced, and high-quality diet which contains proteins, vitamins, minerals, but also fibers. Too often neglected, adding dietary fibers to pets’ daily rations can in fact improve their wellbeing and provide some valuable health benefits. Fibers, from mealworm, in the form of chitin, are proving to be particularly interesting for pet food diets.
Mealworms are a natural source of fibers
Because dietary fibers are not one compound, they can be difficult to define. The World Health Organization characterises them as all carbohydrates with a certain degree of polymerisation that are neither digested nor absorbed in the small intestine. Globally two types of beneficial fibers exist, the soluble ones and the insoluble ones. The most common sources of fibers in a diet are usually
coming from plants and are found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and pulses. Fibers are not digested and pass through the intestine unchanged. Insoluble fibers are generally highly tolerated even in quantity. They play an important role stimulating movement in the large intestine, making stools easier to form and pass, preventing constipation. Soluble fibers on the other hand, absorb water, forming a gel-like substance, and act as a food source for gut bacteria that aid digestion. They have also been linked to glycemic control. In nature, fibers are rarely found in animals. Low in energy supply, while also known to improve well-being, and provide certain health benefits (obesity control, digestion, anti-hairball, etc.), the petfood sector often likes to include fibers in recipes in the form of beet pulp, chicory, and legumes . But an interesting new animal alternative has emerged: mealworm-based fibers. “Mealworms are a natural source of animal fiber. Just like most crustaceans and other insects, they contain in their exoskeleton or cuticle insoluble fibers called chitin, that closely resemble the cellulose polymer in terms of chemical structure and property,” explains Bénédicte Lorrette, Animal Nutrition & Health R&D Director at Sprÿng. “Our protein ingredients made of mealworms
14 | November 2023 - International Petfood
