The virtuous circle of nutrition

From animal to human and planetary well-being: the One Health holistic model

One Health is a health model that calls itself "holistic" because it is based on the recognition that human health, animal health, and ecosystem health are inextricably linked.

Officially recognized by the Italian Ministry of Health, the European Commission and all international organizations, the One Health model is the ideal approach to achieving global health because it addresses the needs of populations based on the intimate relationship between their own health, the health of their animals and the environment in which they live.

The introduction of soldier fly larvae into animal feed-which then arrive on our tables-fits into this holistic approach to health and well-being.

Dr. Roberta Martinoli - BEF Biosystems researcher and consultant - tells about all the potential and benefits of bringing insecticulture into the agroindustrial supply chain.

"Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."

This is normally the case in Nature, but now also by law, soldier fly larvae can be fed live as feed. After their "larva hunt," the hens are compensated with a snack of great nutritional value. The larvae, in fact, have high levels of essential amino acids (lysine, methionine, threonine). In addition, lauric acid, the most abundant fat in these insects, has the ability to counteract the growth of pathogenic bacteria by acting as a natural antibiotic. So, happier chickens with more exercised muscles and a stronger immune system.

The importance of practicing "sports" at an early age also applies to farm animals

The search for food in a natural environment is called foraging. We humans, for example, practice foraging when we go looking for mushrooms in a forest. Those who have had this experience know that it is a stimulating activity for the mind and body. Now egg-laying hens or broilers also have this opportunity through the addition of live larvae in the food ration. Larvae escape and chickens and hens chase them. Several studies have shown that stimulating the motor activity of broilers at a young age significantly reduces the incidence of lameness. It has been seen that after feeding live larvae, hens are more active and for a few hours continue to search for their small prey in the litter box. The fact that the larvae are alive and constantly moving makes them a much more attractive food for chickens, which, on the contrary, quickly lose interest in anything that is stationary.

Much more than dietary enrichment

The antimicrobial properties of fatty acids have long been known. Plants and algae produce these substances for the purpose of protecting themselves from pathogens, including bacteria with multiple resistance to antibiotics (MultiDrug-Resistant Bacteria or MDRB). Soldier fly larva is a good source of lauric acid. Of this medium-chain fat we know the antimicrobial effects against gram-positive bacteria (staphylococci, streptococci, clostridia). So, more larvae and less antibiotics in animal farms.

The valuable contribution of bacteria

The addition of soldier fly larvae to the diet of laying hens has the ability to modulate their gut microbiota leading to an increase in Bacteroides. These, in turn, help to produce propionate from dietary fiber. We know that propionate is capable of acidifying the cytoplasm of Salmonella and that the change in intracellular pH greatly reduces the growth rate of this pathogenic bacterium.

Animal health is our health

Every year 700,000 people worldwide die from antibiotic resistance. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be 10 million. And it doesn't end there. We have lived for hundreds of thousands of years in a perfect symbiosis with our gut bacteria. It is also thanks to them that we stay healthy. The intensive use of antibiotics has caught our little friends off guard with serious health consequences. The loss of microbial variability contributes to the epidemics of our millennium: obesity, asthma, allergies, diabetes and some forms of cancer. Less antibiotics in animal husbandry means introducing more environmental microbial variability and ensuring more health for all.

Chitin: a powerful prebiotic

Chitin, the main component of the insects' exoskeleton, once ingested acts as a powerful prebiotic. Hens, with their instinct to eat insects, through the action of chitin, promote the growth of good bacteria already present in their gut. These in turn convert the chitin into short-chain fatty acids. Short-chain fatty acids promote calcium absorption and the laying of nice hard-shelled eggs.

Eggs smell like eggs

If eggs smell fishy, it is because of trimethylamine, a substance produced by intestinal bacteria from choline. Trimethylamine accumulates in the yolk and the result is not at all pleasant. By introducing insects into the hens' diet, they acquire a microbiota that produces little or no trimethylamine, and the delicious-smelling eggs.