Purine and uric acid contents of common edible insects in Southwest China

Abstract

Edible insects have recently been considered as a potential food source that may solve problems of malnutrition and starvation worldwide. However, studies exploring insects as food sources are mainly focused on entomophagy and nutrition rather than the potential risks of excessive metabolite contents, such as purine and uric acid. In this study, we analysed guanine, hypoxanthine, xanthine, adenine and uric acid concentrations in 11 species of edible insects from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces in Southwest China, including 5 species of dragonfly, 3 species of wasp and a single species of locust, mealworm and silkworm. Purine and uric acid contents differed distinctly between these insects, and guanine and xanthine were the dominant purines in all samples. The proportions of 4 purines in the total purine content of these insects differed markedly from those in meat samples from poultry and livestock, and uric acid contents varied significantly between aquatic insects and terricolous insects, such as silkworm pupa. Taken together, the present data show that most edible insects are potent food sources of purine.