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- ☀️ UVB-exposed black soldier fly larvae fed mushrooms contain over 3,000 µg/100g of total vitamin D.
- 🌱 Hermetia illucens can make both vitamin D2 and D3 after eating mushrooms with lots of ergosterol.
- 🔄 This method helps farming systems where things are reused, turning mushroom waste into biomass full of nutrients.
- 🧬 One study found these larvae have hundreds of times more vitamin D than common sources like salmon.
- 🏭 Treating larvae with UVB light after they have died offers a right, scalable way to add vitamin D to future foods.
People want functional foods because they give health benefits beyond just basic nutrition. Black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) are a surprising option that is getting attention. New findings show that feeding these larvae mushrooms and then exposing them to UVB light can turn them into a very strong source of vitamin D. This way of getting nutrition is sustainable and circular. It uses things we don't use much, like fungi and insects, to make foods that are really good and could work for the future.
What Are Black Soldier Fly Larvae?
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are the young stage of the Hermetia illucens fly. This fly comes from warm parts of the world. These larvae have long been important for breaking down organic waste. They are good at turning rotting material into biomass with lots of fat and protein. Simply put, BSFL are very good at changing one type of material into another useful one. They can take old food scraps or farm waste and make something valuable. That's why people who care about sustainability and farming technology like them.
Black soldier fly larvae naturally have a lot of nutrients:
- Protein (up to 42% dry weight)
- Healthy fats (like lauric acid)
- Essential amino acids
- Minerals like calcium, iron, and zinc
People have traditionally used BSFL in pet food, poultry feed, and fish farming. Now, scientists are looking at using them for human food. This is especially true because their benefits for the environment and high nutrient levels are much better than many traditional protein sources. They are tough and grow fast, which makes them good for farming on a large scale, even in cities or places with few resources.
Why Mushrooms? How Fungi Help Improve Nutritional Potential
Mushrooms are more than just tasty food. They are functional foods, known for helpful natural compounds. One key part here is ergosterol. This is a sterol found in the cell walls of fungi. Ergosterol works in mushrooms a bit like cholesterol works in animals. But it changes when light hits it: it turns into vitamin D2 when exposed to ultraviolet (UVB) rays.
Giving black soldier fly larvae mushrooms or parts rich in ergosterol starts a two-step process:
- Eating the Mushrooms: The larvae eat the mushrooms and get ergosterol into their body tissues.
- Changing with Light: After the larvae are collected, they get UVB light. In the past, people knew this light changed ergosterol to vitamin D2. The study by Wils et al. (2024) shows that cholesterol already in the larvae also changes to vitamin D3 at the same time.
This partnership between fungi and insects means the larvae can have lots of protein and good fat, and also be used to carry two forms of important vitamin D. It's a smart way to use a natural compound from fungi to make another type of living thing much more nutritious.
The Science of Vitamin D Fortification Through UVB and Diet
Vitamin D comes in two main active forms:
- Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol): This is found mostly in fungi like mushrooms.
- Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol): This is found in animals and our skin makes it from sunlight.
Both starting materials—ergosterol and 7-dehydrocholesterol—need UVB light to turn into active vitamin D. The new idea of using mushrooms and larvae together means we get an organism that has both starting materials.
Mushrooms give ergosterol, which changes to Vitamin D2.
And then larvae tissues naturally have cholesterol, which changes to Vitamin D3.
When UVB light is used after the larvae are collected, the result is an organism with very high amounts of both vitamin D2 and D3. Getting both kinds is key. While both help health, some studies suggest vitamin D3 is better at raising the levels of 25(OH)D in the blood. Doctors use 25(OH)D to check vitamin D levels in the body.
This combined approach offers a way to add vitamin D that the body can use well. It is also safe and sustainable. It's one of the best ever found in a whole food source.
Wils et al. (2024) Study: A Big Step for Nutrition
In the important 2024 study by Wils et al., researchers looked at whether BSFL could have more vitamin D by feeding them mushrooms and using UVB light during processing. The results were truly remarkable.
The larvae with added vitamin D had:
- Vitamin D2: About 1,100 µg/100g
- Vitamin D3: About 2,200 µg/100g
- Total vitamin D: More than 3,000 µg/100g
These amounts make the larvae one of the natural sources with the most vitamin D ever found. Let's look at it this way:
- Most adults need 15–20 µg of vitamin D each day.
- Just 1 gram of these larvae would easily give more than that.
The researchers did this without adding artificial ingredients. They only used natural food for the larvae and UVB light after collecting them. This is different from other ways of adding vitamin D, which often use artificial compounds. These compounds sometimes come from sources that are not renewable or need a lot of processing.
Why Is This Important? Helping Solve Vitamin D Deficiency Around the World
Not having enough vitamin D is a big health issue worldwide. More than a billion people lack enough vitamin D. When people have low vitamin D, it has been linked to:
- Rickets in children and bone softening in adults
- A weaker immune system
- Long-term illnesses like heart disease, memory problems, and some cancers
- A higher chance of getting sick with lung infections
Many things cause this big problem:
- People don't get enough sunlight, maybe because they live in cities or stay inside.
- Vegan and vegetarian diets might not have much vitamin D.
- Some health problems mean the body doesn't take in vitamins well, or darker skin makes less vitamin D from the sun.
Foods we usually get vitamin D from—like fatty fish (salmon), liver, or milk with added vitamin D—can be hard to get, too expensive, or not okay for some cultures to eat. Black soldier fly larvae give a chance to make this important vitamin available to more people. It's a whole food that lasts a long time and doesn't come from killing animals or making dairy products.
How Larvae Compare in Nutrients: They Are Much Better
If we compare different foods that have vitamin D, the numbers show something amazing:
| Food Source | Vitamin D Content (µg/100g) |
|---|---|
| Salmon (wild-caught, cooked) | About 10 µg |
| Milk with added vitamin D | 1–2.5 µg |
| Mushrooms exposed to UVB | Up to 25 µg |
| Black soldier fly larvae (UVB) | More than 3,300 µg |
Even foods with added vitamins don't have as much as these larvae. This makes it possible to create very effective vitamin supplements and food mixes that can help fix vitamin D lack for many people.
Good for Money and the Planet
What makes this method especially appealing is that it fits well with ideas about using resources in a circle, not just throwing them away. Here is how the system works:
- Input: This is mushroom waste, old mushrooms, or stems people don't eat.
- Bioconversion: Black soldier flies turn this material into larvae full of nutrients.
- Output: This is insect material with added vitamin D. People can use it for food, animal feed, or medicine.
- Afterlife: The waste from the insects (called frass) is good organic fertilizer.
This is farming with very little waste. And then the whole cycle can happen in farming systems that fit together easily. These can work well with vertical farming in cities. This cuts down on pollution from moving things around and doesn't need much land.
Eating Them: The Rules and Nutrient Possibilities
Right now, people can eat black soldier fly larvae in some countries. These include Switzerland, parts of Europe, and Southeast Asia. You can already buy products made from them, like:
- Protein powders from insects
- Snack bars
- Pasta
- Baked goods and even things that replace meat
They have a mild, earthy, nutty taste that is easy to hide in salty or sweet foods. It seems likely that more places, especially North America, will approve them soon. If that happens, BSFL with added vitamin D could be a main part of new health foods and vitamin supplements.
In places where people can't eat them yet, black soldier fly larvae are used in animal feed. Animals like chickens can use the vitamin D they eat. This means chicken feed with added larvae could make eggs or meat with more vitamin D. This is another way the cycle from insects to human health works.
A New Business Idea: Mushroom and Insect Farms Working Together
Small and city mushroom farms already make a lot of material they don't sell. This includes:
- Mushrooms that don't look perfect
- Stems thrown away when packing
- The material left after growing mushrooms
Instead of thinking of this as trash, smart farms can work with people who raise insects. They can give the black soldier flies the leftover mushroom parts. In exchange, they get material from the insects that is full of nutrients and could be very useful for food, animal feed, or fertilizer.
This idea looks promising for things like local farming groups (CSA), food systems that produce no waste, and even small setups at home.
What We Think at Zombie Mushrooms: Fungi Are Systems, Not Just Food
At Zombie Mushrooms, we've always seen fungi as more than just living things. We see them as parts of bigger systems in nature. This way of using mushrooms to feed insects and create nutrients supports our view. It shows that food systems don't just go in a straight line. They are actually cycles, and smart actions keep them going.
People who study fungi and people who farm insects should be happy about working together. Someone growing mushrooms at home could now make not just shiitake to eat. They could also make material to create vitamins that help their community stay healthy. That is the kind of small project that is good for the future.
Making This Innovation Bigger: Technology, Keeping it the Same, and Research
To take this from a science project to a real business, we need some technology steps. These include:
- Indoor farm buildings: Keeping the right heat, moisture, and air for raising insects.
- Setting up UVB light: Making sure the light is used for the right amount of time so the change happens fully but also efficiently.
- Making the food the same: Preparing the mushroom material so it always has the right amount of ergosterol.
The good news is that we already have all these things in either mushroom farming or insect science. The main challenge to making this big is putting things together, not coming up with totally new ideas. This makes it likely we can start using this method quickly.
What Might Stop People: Culture and Ethics
Like many food projects using insects, there are two main things that could be problems:
- Will people accept eating them?: People eat insects in many parts of the world. But in Western countries, some people still don't like the idea. Teaching people about it and making products that don't taste strongly like insects will be very important.
- Is it right to raise and use insects?: People worry less about how insects are treated compared to animals like cows. In this plan, the UVB light is used after the larvae are dead, so there is even less worry.
These larvae eat organic waste and don't need a lot of resources. This means they have very little impact on the environment and raise few ethical questions. They might be one of the kindest ways to make protein and vitamins today.
Ideas for Health Foods and Vitamins
Since these larvae have so much vitamin D that the body can use, we could use them in many ways:
- Pills or tablets you take every day.
- Meal powders with added nutrients for places that need help after a disaster or where it's hard to get good food.
- Things added to pet food to help animals be healthy in a natural way.
- Added to animal feed for farms that want their milk or eggs to have more nutrients.
- Energy bars and baked goods that give you good nutrition without you really noticing.
Making new things in these areas could completely change how we add vitamin D to diets around the world. Black soldier fly larvae could be the main key ingredient.
Conclusion: A Great Food Made by Working Together
Putting mushrooms, insects, and UVB light together shows us something amazing. It's like a kind of natural magic – turning waste materials into food with lots of important nutrients that help life. Black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) were mostly known for breaking down waste and for pet food. But they might soon be seen as a great source of vitamin D. They could help solve the problem of many people not having enough vitamin D, and it wouldn't cost the planet much.
For local farmers, people making health foods, or new companies looking ahead, this is a great chance. We are not just feeding insects or recycling mushrooms. We are creating ways to get nutrition for the future. These ways work because different living things cooperate, instead of competing.
Citations
Wils, W., Moulin, L., Demol, S., Van Camp, J., & Lenaerts, S. (2024). Increasing vitamin D content in Hermetia illucens larvae using mushroom-based feeding and UVB exposure. Future Foods, [Online ahead of print].
