ReviewHeliyon2023
Unravelling the potential of insects for medicinal purposes - A comprehensive review.
Review in Heliyon, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Medicinal invertebrates used in African traditional medicine: a systematic review.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2026Pooled it
- Insect-Derived Anti-Aging Bioresources: Current Status, Bottlenecks, and Future Directions.Insects · 2026Review
- Article
- Protective Effects Assessment of Combined Extracts fromVeterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Protective Effect ofFood science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Insect applications to open wounds by chimpanzees in the wild: first insights from East African chimpanzees.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Innovative Application of Medicinal Insects: Employing UHPLC-MS, Bioinformatics, In Silico Studies andPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Peptide Fractions Extracted from the Hemolymph ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) Curves of Water and Ethanol Extracts of Whole Body Apis mellifera jemenitica.F1000Research · 2025Article
- Periostracum Cicadae Extract and N-Acetyldopamine Regulate the Sleep-Related Neurotransmitters in PCPA-Induced Insomnia Rats.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Entomophagy and entomo-therapeutic practices in a mountainous territory in southeast Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2024Article
- Consumers' Perceptions about Edible Insects' Nutritional Value and Health Effects: Study Involving 14 Countries.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Actinomycetes Associated with Arthropods as a Source of New Bioactive Compounds.Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Review
- Bee Venom: Composition and Anticancer Properties.Toxins · 2024Review
- A Review on Chemical Structures and Biological Activities of Dopamine Derivatives from Medicinal Insects.Mini reviews in medicinal chemistry · 2024Review
- Revisiting edible insects as sources of therapeutics and drug delivery systems for cancer therapy.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 7 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Entomotherapy, the use of insects for medicinal purposes, has been practised for centuries in many countries around the world. More than 2100 edible insect species are eaten by humans, but little is known about the possibility of using these insects as a promising alternative to traditional pharmaceuticals for treating diseases. This review offers a fundamental understanding of the therapeutic applications of insects and how they might be used in medicine. In this review, 235 insect species from 15 orders are reported to be used as medicine. Hymenoptera contains the largest medicinal insect species, followed by Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, and Blattodea. Scientists have examined and validated the potential uses of insects along with their products and by-products in treating various diseases, and records show that they are primarily used to treat digestive and skin disorders. Insects are known to be rich sources of bioactive compounds, explaining their therapeutic features such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and so on. Challenges associated with the consumption of insects (entomophagy) and their therapeutic uses include regulation barriers and consumer acceptance. Moreover, the overexploitation of medicinal insects in their natural habitat has led to a population crisis, thus necessitating the investigation and development of their mass-rearing procedure. Lastly, this review suggests potential directions for developing insects used in medicine and offers advice for scientists interested in entomotherapy. In future, entomotherapy may become a sustainable and cost-effective solution for treating various ailments and has the potential to revolutionize modern medicine.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.