Millipedes as food for humans: their nutritional and possible anti-malaria value – a first report

Henrik Enghoff; Nicola Manno; Sévérin Tchibozo; Manuela List; Bettina Schwarzinger; Wolfgang Schoefberger; Clemens Schwarzinger; Maurizio G. Paoletti

doi:10.1155/2014/651768

Millipedes as food for humans: their nutritional and possible anti-malaria value – a first report

Henrik Enghoff, Nicola Manno, Sévérin Tchibozo, Manuela List, Bettina Schwarzinger, Wolfgang Schoefberger, Clemens Schwarzinger, Maurizio G. Paoletti

13 Citationer (Scopus)

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Abstract

The first record of millipedes (Diplopoda) being regularly used for food by humans (the Bobo people of Burkina Faso) is given, including information on how the millipedes are prepared. The species in question are Tymbodesmus falcatus (Karsch, 1881) and Sphenodesmus sheribongensis (Schiøtz, 1966) (Gomphodesmidae) and an unidentified species of Spirostreptidae. New information on the nutritional value of millipedes is provided; unsaturated fatty acids, calcium, and iron contents are particularly high. The millipedes’ defensive secretions, hydrogen cyanide and benzoquinones, present a severe challenge for the spread of millipedes as an everyday food source. On the other hand, the possibility that benzoquinones may act as insect-repellents, as known from studies on nonhuman primates, and that sublethal cyanide ingestionmay enhance human innate resistance tomalaria, suggests promising ethnomedical perspectives to our findings.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Artikelnummer	651768
Tidsskrift	Evidence - Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Vol/bind	2014
Antal sider	9
ISSN	1741-427X
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/651768
Status	Udgivet - 2014

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Citationsformater

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title = "Millipedes as food for humans: their nutritional and possible anti-malaria value – a first report",

abstract = "The first record of millipedes (Diplopoda) being regularly used for food by humans (the Bobo people of Burkina Faso) is given, including information on how the millipedes are prepared. The species in question are Tymbodesmus falcatus (Karsch, 1881) and Sphenodesmus sheribongensis (Schi{\o}tz, 1966) (Gomphodesmidae) and an unidentified species of Spirostreptidae. New information on the nutritional value of millipedes is provided; unsaturated fatty acids, calcium, and iron contents are particularly high. The millipedes{\textquoteright} defensive secretions, hydrogen cyanide and benzoquinones, present a severe challenge for the spread of millipedes as an everyday food source. On the other hand, the possibility that benzoquinones may act as insect-repellents, as known from studies on nonhuman primates, and that sublethal cyanide ingestionmay enhance human innate resistance tomalaria, suggests promising ethnomedical perspectives to our findings.",

author = "Henrik Enghoff and Nicola Manno and S{\'e}v{\'e}rin Tchibozo and Manuela List and Bettina Schwarzinger and Wolfgang Schoefberger and Clemens Schwarzinger and Paoletti, {Maurizio G.}",

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T1 - Millipedes as food for humans

T2 - their nutritional and possible anti-malaria value – a first report

AU - Enghoff, Henrik

AU - Manno, Nicola

AU - Tchibozo, Sévérin

AU - List, Manuela

AU - Schwarzinger, Bettina

AU - Schoefberger, Wolfgang

AU - Schwarzinger, Clemens

AU - Paoletti, Maurizio G.

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - The first record of millipedes (Diplopoda) being regularly used for food by humans (the Bobo people of Burkina Faso) is given, including information on how the millipedes are prepared. The species in question are Tymbodesmus falcatus (Karsch, 1881) and Sphenodesmus sheribongensis (Schiøtz, 1966) (Gomphodesmidae) and an unidentified species of Spirostreptidae. New information on the nutritional value of millipedes is provided; unsaturated fatty acids, calcium, and iron contents are particularly high. The millipedes’ defensive secretions, hydrogen cyanide and benzoquinones, present a severe challenge for the spread of millipedes as an everyday food source. On the other hand, the possibility that benzoquinones may act as insect-repellents, as known from studies on nonhuman primates, and that sublethal cyanide ingestionmay enhance human innate resistance tomalaria, suggests promising ethnomedical perspectives to our findings.

AB - The first record of millipedes (Diplopoda) being regularly used for food by humans (the Bobo people of Burkina Faso) is given, including information on how the millipedes are prepared. The species in question are Tymbodesmus falcatus (Karsch, 1881) and Sphenodesmus sheribongensis (Schiøtz, 1966) (Gomphodesmidae) and an unidentified species of Spirostreptidae. New information on the nutritional value of millipedes is provided; unsaturated fatty acids, calcium, and iron contents are particularly high. The millipedes’ defensive secretions, hydrogen cyanide and benzoquinones, present a severe challenge for the spread of millipedes as an everyday food source. On the other hand, the possibility that benzoquinones may act as insect-repellents, as known from studies on nonhuman primates, and that sublethal cyanide ingestionmay enhance human innate resistance tomalaria, suggests promising ethnomedical perspectives to our findings.

U2 - 10.1155/2014/651768

DO - 10.1155/2014/651768

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 24688592

SN - 1741-427X

VL - 2014

JO - Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

JF - Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

M1 - 651768

ER -