Insect oil could be the next new source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, a new study finds.

Omega-3 fatty acids are known to be essential for good health, but, as our bodies cannot manufacture them, we get them from eating foods.

Industries around the world are interested in new sources of sustainable fatty acids like omega-3.  The main source for omega-3 is currently fish. It is added to the feed of cats and farm raised salmon, to foodstuffs and put in capsules.

But insects, which are used as a protein source for humans and animals, could also provide an ideal source of omega-3 fatty acids, according to a Netherlands research team.

In the process of extracting protein from the insects, oil is produced, but currently discarded.  In their experiments, they extracted oil from mealworms, beetle larvae, crickets, cockroaches, grasshoppers and soldier flies, among others.

"All the oils smell differently, some nicer than others," said doctoral student Daylan Tzompa Sosa, lead author of the study, which appears in Food Research International.

The team is now working to determine the best diet to feed the insects for optimal oil consumption and also perform research to determine any risk for humans and animals consuming it.