In the future we will drink cockroach milk, four times more nutritious than cow's milk

It turns out that cockroach milk is one of the most nutritious foods that are known. In fact, as you read this, some lab in the world is working to take it to the supermarkets of the future.

Wait a minute, are cockroaches suckling? Not quite. This "milk" is produced by viviparous species, the few that give birth to their young instead of laying eggs. One of those terrifying cockroaches is the Pacific beetle, or Diploptera punctata. Their young feed on a liquid especially rich in proteins, fats and sugars.

According to a new study published by the International Union of Crystallography, this liquid is four times more nutritious than cow's milk, or three times more caloric than dense buffalo milk. But do not expect to see it soon along the carton of soy milk or almond milk because milking a cockroach is simply impossible.

You see, the substance we can extract directly from the Diploptera punctata is not the "cockroach milk" itself. During gestation, this species secretes a liquid rich in proteins that nourishes its embryos so that they can grow and develop. The "milk" itself are the protein crystals that form in the gut of the offspring. We can not recover that liquid, but we can synthesize it.

Bioengineers are investigating whether they can produce such a substance using yeast. They should also check whether or not it is toxic to humans. If the commercial product were to exist, the problem would be to convince consumers to switch to the new drink; the most difficult of the whole process, despite the nutritional quality of the cockroach milk.

[Banerjee et al via CNN]

http://es.gizmodo.com/en-el-futuro-beberemos-leche-de-cucaracha-cuatro-veces-1784391409