Journal of Advances in Sports and Physical Education (JASPE)
Volume-1 | Issue-03 | 68-71
Original Research Article
Edible Insects Consumption: A Veritable Option to Ameliorate the Deleterious Health Consequences of Kwashiorkor in Nigeria
Adeleke Olasunkanmi R
Published : Sept. 30, 2018
Abstract
Abstract: All over the world particularly in the developing nations including Nigeria more than half of the population are suffering from a situation in which one problem causes another, this problems include ignorance, poverty, malnutrition, disease and early death. Approximately, one third of a life is spent as a result of a struggle for food. A conservative estimate places the daily toll from kwashiorkor at 10,000. A figure indicates that between 800 million and one billion persons suffer from some degree of Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM) alone. The resultant effect of protein deficiency kwashiorkor which leads illness, stunted growth, among others. Kwashiorkor and its effect could be mitigated in West African and Nigeria through insect’s consumption. Insects are the most successful, biologically, of all the groups of arthropods, and they abound in great numbers in Nigeria because of the large forest and grass land areas, fresh water and wide coastal regions which supports the existence of insects. Insects supply high quality protein which are requiring in children nutrition and they are abundant, cheap, easy to harvest, and are available throughout the year. Therefore, this paper, after reviewing the availability and the nutritional values inherent in insects, recommend that insects be produced and consumed to ameliorate the deleterious consequences of kwashiorkor in Nigeria, and indeed in the developing nations.