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 Citations (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.

Original language	English
Article number	651768
Journal	Evidence - Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Volume	2014
Number of pages	9
ISSN	1741-427X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/651768
Publication status	Published - 2014

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Cite this

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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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doi = "10.1155/2014/651768",

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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.

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