Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera Pyralidae): an edible insect of nutraceutical interest

The nutritive values of G. mellonella were until now investigated as feed for insectivore animals and notwithstanding the interesting nutritive content of the larvae and the possibility to affect n-3 fatty acid content by diets, this species is not considered of some interest for human diet. The focus of the present study is to value the effects of two diets with (D1+) and without (D1) the addition of leenseeds, on reaching n-3 fatty acid content and n-6/n-3 fatty acids ratio of interest for human health, in particular in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Results highlighted higher n-3 fatty acid values in G. mellonella larvae fed on D1 (2.0g\100g) and on D1+ (14.82g/100g) diets than reported in literature and a lower n-6/n-3 ratio in larvae from D1+ (0.859) than in those recorded from D1 (4.68). Anyway, larvae fed on both the diets showed n-6/n-3 ratio optimal for human health. The study showed the nutraceutical potential of G. mellonella which deserves to be more investigated in the future.