ABSTRACT
The classes of components that are commonly added to insect diets include carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins, and minerals. Other ingredients commonly added to diets are emulsifiers, stabilizers, gelling agents, pH modifiers, and preservatives, which may include antimicrobial agents and antioxidants. Other functional components that are added, often incidentally, are phenolic compounds, flavenoids, terpenoids, and other factors that are only recently coming to the attention of the food science and entomology communities (Carroll et al, 1997; Johnson and Felton, 2001). Interestingly, some factors that have antinutrient qualities also find their way into insect diets. These include digestive inhibitors, lectins, agents of oxidative stress (reactive oxygen species, or ROS), and a variety of other potentially deleterious substances.
