I was at the University of Wyoming Insect Cook-Off several years ago. A lecturer said there is more usable protein in pork than in beef, there’s more in chicken than in pork, and insects have even more than chicken. He gave percentages which I can’t recall.
Some bats live largely on mosquitos. In a survival situation could a human get significant nutrition from eating mosquitos? I imagine myself lost in the deep dark woods with every body part covered except my hands and mouth, insanely slapping mosquitos and gobbling them up, yum.
While we await the arrival of a dietician whose sphere of interest includes the insectivorous human, maybe this site can shed some light on the OP’s query.
Among other items of interest it notes that 4oz. mosquitoes comprises 14,000 such insects. The average human being consumes about 7lb. of food and drink per day so, without attempting to compare the relative nutritional benefits of mosquitoes versus pizza and ice cream, I would guess that even for survival purposes quite a lot of mosquitoes would be required to sustain life.
On a cautionary note, it might be unwise to spread tabasco sauce on the mosquitoes before consuming same. The consequent digestive problems could be explosive.
I think that figure will be mostly water then. Just guesstimating but I doubt on any individual day I exceed 300 grams of carbohydrates, 300 grams of proteins, or 150 grams of fats a day. A pound and a half average I would guess. A fed mosquito is going to be a few times more nutritious I would presume. So hey, not that it changes the final answer but we just fudged the numbers by an order of magnitude!
A quick search reveals that, from here, about two thirds into the article, the FDA is reported to quantify the average daily individual food & drink intake at 3000gm (6.6lb).
Certainly this figure will comprise a lot of water, a pint of which weighs a fraction over 1lb if I’m not mistaken. An average weight consumption figure for food alone would be useful, albeit tangential to the OP.
I recall seeing something on television that Locusts are among the most healthy of foods out there. High in protein, low in fat and carbs. A bit of Googling and you can find recipes for them. In many countries they are a common food source (referred to as desert shrimp as apparently they taste something like shrimp).
No idea on mosquitos but I suppose if you had enough of them they could be considered food for a human although since they ingest blood one has to wonder if health issues could arise from consuming them (no idea). IIRC mosquitos kill more humans every year than anything else (disease carriers) so again may nt be healthy to eat for that reason.
In a mosquito-infested environment it would seem to be well within the realm of possibility to kill 30 of them per minute. If one hundred mosquitos makes up one gram, in an hour I’d’ve eaten eighteen grams. In four hours I’d have ingested 72 grams of (hopefully) good-quality calories. That’s almost two and one-quarter ounces. Not enough to be comfortable but certainly better than nothing.
Couldn’t think of a practical way to leave only my hands & mouth uncovered, but (eureka!) I have a small mirror in my emergency kit which I can use to observe the little vampires when they land on my face. Short distance to the mouth, eh?
I remember seeing some TV show showing the harvest of lake flies over Lake Victoria in Uganda. The swarms are so huge they look like smoke. People cruise around in canoes with humongous butterfly nets. The flies are collected and mashed into hamburger patties. Now in previous threads I’ve admitted to eating some pretty strange animal flesh, but I’m not real sure that I’d try the fly patties. I’ve had native foods in sub-Saharan Africa and I have to say, it has been my least favorite foreign cuisine. This article describes insect eating in Uganda.
I think that figure will be mostly water then. Just guesstimating but I doubt on any individual day I exceed 300 grams of carbohydrates, 300 grams of proteins, or 150 grams of fats a day. A pound and a half average I would guess. A fed mosquito is going to be a few times more nutritious I would presume. So hey, not that it changes the final answer but we just fudged the numbers by an order of magnitude!