MAGNIFICENT MERCOLA: Should You Start Chowing Down on Chitin?
Story at-a-glance
- Chitin is a polysaccharide found in the exoskeleton of most arthropods, which include insects, spiders, scorpions and centipedes, as well as crabs, crayfish and lobsters
- An animal study suggests that when chitin is consumed, it activates the immune system, which in turn may reduce weight gain and body fat while increasing resistance to obesity
- Chitin is a highly inflammatory and potentially allergy-inducing compound
- It's possible chitin is involved in triggering "crab asthma" that's prevalent among workers in the shellfish processing industry
- Building up chitin could be part of the global plan steering the population away from nutritious animal foods and toward insects as a primary protein source